Obama snubs Spanish-language media for Syria interview

As part of making the case for action in Syria, The White House invited anchors from ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CNN and PBS who each got 6 minutes with the president.  Univision was notably snubbed despite having higher ratings than all the networks in the under 50 demographic in the July ratings.

Univision released a statement communicating its displeasure saying:

What happens in Syria is important to Univision News’ audience. As the fastest growing demographic in the U.S. the decisions that are made by our government on issues like this one have a direct impact in their lives and their future. The U.S. Hispanic community has the right to be well informed and receive all the news and information they need from the news source they trust the most. It’s disappointing to see the lack of interest to reach our audience on this important issue.

Univision anchor Jorge Ramos tweeted several comments about the snub.

While many Hispanics do watch the English-language networks, far more watch Spanish-language news.  The Pew Hispanic center in August released a study showing the Spanish is the most spoken foreign language in U.S. homes, even among-non-Hispanics.

The White House needs to get into the habit of including Spanish language media -- notably TV with Univision and Telemundo -- in its standard approach to the president's availability.  Hispanics will see this as a snub and this type of treatment is what Hispanics typically see when it comes to taking them for granted or being an after-thought.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/09/3616313/univision-white-house-snubbed.html#storylink=cpy

Little goats get to go to college!

The subject line of a press release sent to me today reads, "La ayuda de los ganadores de lotería envía a cabritos a la universidad." Loosely translated it says "The help from lottery winners sends little goats to college." Don't get me wrong, I'm all for everyone having an opportunity to attend college.

The other problem with the translation is that for many Hispanics, words associated with "cabra" or goat refer to someone whose significant other cheated on them. When you call someone a "cabron" or a derivative of the word, it is a major insult/swear word. As such, my initial reaction was laughter about that, and less about little goats going to college.

I don't want to take away from Jacki and Gilbert Cisneros' generosity of establishing a $2.6 million scholarship fund with the Hispanic Scholarship Fund from their $266 million lottery winnings. They should be commended and emulated. I trust that their story will continue to get out there despite the literal and poorly translated press release from Lipman Hearne (the release has other problems as well).

As a blogger I receive many pitches and subscribe to different news services and sources. I enjoy reading what companies and organizations are communicating, but often read many poorly translated press releases. Grammatical errors, sure. But, most are literal and their originators don't take the time to make them more relevant for Hispanic readers. Just like advertising, press releases should also account for cultural relevance.

Details released for 2nd Hispanic PR & Social Media Conference

Hispanicize 2011, the 2nd Annual Hispanic PR & Social Media Conference, will take place at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa in Los Angeles, April 6-8, 2011. The event is a partnership of the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA), the Hispanic PR Blog and the soon-to-be-launched Latino social media content/networking site Hispanicize.com, the conference will be held at Hollywood's famous . The event's web site is http://www.hispanicprconference.com.

Media relations in a crisis

Adweek recently posted an interesting column by Mike Valdes-Fauli on its website that outlines some good, practical tips for considering the Hispanic media in crisis communication.

His tips include:

1. Remember emotion resonates -- despite conventional wisdom of only sticking to the facts, Hispanics are accustomed to more emotion and sentimentality in their communications.

2. Adapt, don't translate. An expert should carefully adapt the messages in the announcement to create a new document that effectively communicates the key message points to Hispanics.

3. Think new consumer, old-school tactics. Much of the Hispanic media landscape still thrives on a ground-level, person-to-person interaction.

4. Find the Hispanic angle. Regardless of language used it is advisable to find a Hispanic angle and make that the news hook.

5. Respect cultural differences. We know that Hispanics are not all the same, so we need to ensure we communicate differently with each subset of the population.

All good tips. What is missing here is one of the main aspect of crisis communication, which is developing solid relationships with the media ahead of any crisis. When a crisis hits is not the time to be figuring out who the influential media are to contact or the first time you're outreaching to them.

Any good crisis communication program needs an "offensive" aspect to it and not only a "defensive" one when the mierda hits the fan. Going on the offense entails aspects like developing positive relationships w/the media, the community and key groups.

The analogy I've used is that it's like having a savings account. You need to continuously make "deposits" to the "good-will" account so that you have something in the bank should a crisis force you to make a big "withdrawal." If there is nothing in there for a withdrawal, you are essentially out on your own hoping for the best.

While positive relationships alone won't solve your crisis issue, they will help to at least minimize long-term ramifications and ensure you have credible people out there speaking positively on your behalf.

This advise applies to the general market, not only the Hispanic market.