Who Owns the Media: TelevisaUnivision
TelevisaUnivision 🐔🐔
Capitulation Rank: Compromising
Category: Broadcasting & Entertainment
Market Cap: Privately held
U.S. CEO Daniel Alegre
Univision came under heavy criticism for its 2024 “town hall” with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. The broadcast allowed Trump to speak uninterrupted without fact checking, said former Univision president Joaquín Blaya, who noted that the event amounted to a “propaganda project” akin to an “infomercial … where they brought in audience as props.”
The network once took a more adversarial stance toward Donald Trump in response to his derogatory comments about Latinx immigrants. Former anchor Jorge Ramos frequently spoke out against Trump’s racist language and policies.
By the 2024 election, Ramos was gone and Univision, which had merged with Televisa, decided to soften its tone. “It’s a shift the network has openly defended as economic realities and demographics change,” reported CNN.
- DEI Doublespeak:
On its corporate responsibility page, TelevisaUnivision claims to “give voice, both in Spanish and English, to the communities we serve by promoting diversity and addressing how inequalities permeate all aspects of society.” However, its leadership team is composed primarily of men. Bulwark reported that company executives had approved Department of Homeland Security ads threatening immigrants that the government “will find and deport them.”
- What It Owns:
TelevisaUnivision owns 33 radio stations in 12 markets; online publications and services (including Habla USA, N+, Noticias Univision, Tudn, Uforia Música, Univision Now and Vix Se); and production studio Televisa Internacional. Other businesses include Despierta América, Nmás, Nuestra Belleza Latina, Simplemente Delicioso, Telenovelas, TUDN, Univision Contigo, Univision Farmacia and Univision Mastercard prepaid card.
- Money & Influence Game:
TelevisaUnivision paid lobbyists $810,000 in 2024, and its employees made $297,110 in contributions to political candidates (2024 cycle). (SOURCE: Center for Responsive Politics)