Your Nicaraguan co-host didn’t “grow up on tacos” and the children of undocumented immigrants are not “children of the corn.” A look at Fox News’ recent coverage of Hispanics.
As Hispanic Heritage Month unfolds, Fox News has created content to celebrate it, while also offering up cringe-worthy examples of exactly how not to honor Hispanic-Americans.
On the positive side they looked at an animal trainer, a tennis champion and Goya Foods. But there were more high-profile, head-scratching segments as well.
Via buzzfeed.com
Hispanic Heritage Month began Sept. 15, and on Sept. 19 Chris Wallace hosted Fox News “Special Report," talking about how undocumented parents get federal "welfare" benefits.
Via mediamatters.org
The segment cited a Los Angeles county study that said undocumented immigrants will receive $650 million in federal benefits this year, but neglected to mention the benefits were for their U.S. citizen children.
Los Angeles has 4.8 million Latinos, accounting for 9% of the U.S. Hispanic population, according to Pew, and approximately 80 percent of undocumented immigrants are from Mexico or Latin America.
That inaccuracy was compounded by the use of a graphic that read "Children of the Corn". There have been many speculations as to what this meant – but one thing is certain it invoked a negative image. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists has reached out to FOX News in an effort to get a better understanding of how this segment, riddled with basic misinformation and disdainful images made air. It is apparent that the segment went through many decision making filters who felt the finished product was editorially sound. NAHJ asks, "who are these journalists?" Experience has shown that most likely none were representative of the Latino community.
