Julián Castro is concerned that the Biden campaign needs a more robust strategy for Spanish-language media following Univision’s interview with Donald Trump. The network is facing backlash after they refused to run ads for the Biden campaign during the interview, despite the expectation that they would. On Saturday, Castro told MSNBC’s Katie Phang that the move “highlights the importance of having a very strong Spanish language strategy on all platforms on traditional television.”
“Also, of course, on all the social media platforms,” he added. “Because a lot of this misinformation and disinformation happens on, you know, whether it’s WhatsApp or TikTok or other platforms.”
As Phang noted at the beginning of the segment, Univision has faced criticism for pulling the ads from the Biden campaign, as well as for the Trump interview itself, which she described as “very friendly.” The network also canceled a planned interview with Maca Casado, Biden’s Hispanic media director. One of the network’s anchors, León Krauze, announced he was leaving the network following the interview.
Castro pointed out that Univision is an important source of news for many Latino households across the United States. He explained, “Folks have to understand, for those who don’t follow Spanish language media, Univision is more than just a network for so long.”
“It’s a network that dominated by far Spanish-language media. That’s changed a little bit, Telemundo has caught up in the last few years, but it’s still the dominant network. And it’s more than just a TV network for Spanish-language American consumers. It was really like a community resource.”
Castro expressed his worry that the network is making itself “friendlier” to Donald Trump and his 2024 presidential campaign, in part because “the Latino vote is going to be an indispensable part of Joe Biden’s Democratic coalition in 2024.”
He also believes that it’s crucial for the Biden campaign and Democrats to have a “coordinated effort” to put out accurate information for the Spanish-speaking community. As Castro pointed out, there is plenty of time for the campaign to right the ship if a true effort is made.
Watch the interview with Julián Castro in the video above.
