Latest news with #objectivity
Forbes
4 days ago
- Politics
- Forbes
Jorge Ramos, On His Digital Reinvention: ‘I'm Not Ready To Retire'
Jorge Ramos, in the studio where he films "Así Veo Las Cosas" — his news series that blends ... More journalism with the intimacy of social media. To Jorge Ramos, neutrality is a four-letter word. After nearly four decades as a Univision anchor — a high-profile perch that eventually turned him into, according to The Guardian, the best-known journalist in the Spanish-speaking world — the 67-year-old Ramos left behind the television news industry that defined much of his career to launch an independent, internet-based news program. His new show, which debuted in June and can be found across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and X, is called Asi Veo las Cosas — Spanish for 'That's how I see things.' In other words, it's not the kind of show that clings to the familiar 'voice from nowhere' objectivity that characterizes much of legacy journalism. Instead, Asi Veo las Cosas is largely an extension of Ramos' world view — which he described in a phone interview with me as, basically, 'pro-immigrant, pro-democracy, and pro-freedom.' Why Jorge Ramos believes journalism should take a stand 'I personally have no problem with objectivity,' said Ramos, who was born in Mexico and moved to the U.S. in the 1980s to escape press censorship. 'If something is red, we say it's red. If 16 people died, we say 16. And if you make a mistake, you correct it and move on. But sometimes, and I understand this might be controversial in certain places, sometimes as a journalist you have to take a stand. 'I don't think neutrality is a journalistic value.' Of course, no one who's followed his career up to this point needs him to spell that out. After all, he's built a career out of amplifying the voices of marginalized communities and confronting politicians — from calling President Obama 'deporter-in-chief' during a Univision interview in 2014 to his tense exchange with Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro in 2019 at the presidential palace in Caracas, during which he called the strongman 'illegitimate.' And now, he's running a digital platform with a clear point of view, one that's both a reinvention and a return to form — bringing him closer to the audiences he's always fought for. He spends time during his broadcasts, for example, responding directly to viewers. One recent episode found him speaking directly to the camera about a woman named Yocari Villagómez who'd lived in the U.S. for 12 years, with no criminal record. Despite being married to an American citizen, she was told she had to leave — and so made the difficult decision to self-deport to Mexico, with her husband by her side. In recent days, he also traveled to Brooklyn to surprise a young student named Camila who wants to follow in Ramos' professional footsteps. 'I knew that after television I needed to reinvent myself,' Ramos said. 'At 67, I'm not ready to retire. I see the numbers — millions of people viewing what I'm doing online — and the immediate communication I have with the audience that I didn't have before.' Still, he admits the shift comes with challenges. 'I'm still figuring out how to monetize a news operation like the one I'm in,' he added. But for Ramos, the motivation is about more than business. 'I believe that journalists never retire. And I still have a battle to fight.' At the center of that battle is the animating force — contrapoder, a Spanish word that literally means to be against power — that's characterized his work for pretty much the entirety of his career. 'I think that as journalists, we have two main responsibilities: The first one is to report reality as it is, not as we wish it would be. And the second one, which is the most important social responsibility that we have, is to question and to challenge those who are in power. I think if we applied this to every situation – Democrats or Republicans, tyrants or not — and if you as a journalist always try to position yourself as contrapoder, in other words on the other side of power, you will be fine.' This philosophy also places Ramos squarely inside a broader debate about objectivity. For much of the 20th century, American journalism upheld what the Columbia Journalism Review recently described as a belief that 'detached fact-finding' is the highest standard worth pursuing. But critics like NYU's Jay Rosen argue that this approach has granted journalists 'unearned authority' and discouraged them from owning perspectives for which there is no alternative viewpoint. Ramos agrees. For him, neutrality in the face of things like racism, human rights violations, or corruption is actually closer to complicity. In fact, it was watching American journalists freely criticize President Ronald Reagan that convinced him to stay in his adopted country. 'I love this country,' Ramos said of the U.S.. 'This country gave me opportunities my country of origin couldn't. But I've never seen so much fear out there as I see now. However, I think this too shall pass. The essence of the United States — freedom, diversity, opportunity — will prevail. But we have to fight for it. Like never before.'
Fox News
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Ex-ABC journalist fired for calling Trump a 'world-class hater' says it's not a reporter's job to be objective
Former ABC News reporter Terry Moran said it was not a journalist's job to be "objective" while also praising CBS News correspondent Scott Pelley's viral graduation speech attacking President Donald Trump in an interview on Monday. Moran, who was axed from ABC News last week after posting an anti-Trump rant on X, knocked the notion that journalists were supposed to be unbiased in their news coverage in a conversation with The Bulwark's Tim Miller posted to Substack. After describing himself as a "centrist" and "Hubert Humphrey Democrat," Moran dismissed critics from the right who said his post unmasked a liberal bias that is typical in the media. "My own feeling is that you don't sacrifice your citizenship as a journalist. Your job is not to be objective," he said. He also mocked the idea that objectivity was a realistic journalistic standard. "There is no Mount Olympus of objectivity where a Mandarin class of wise people have no feelings about their society," he continued. "We're all in this together. What you have to be is fair and accurate." Moran touted his interview with Trump in April as one recent example of where he felt he met that objective. Trump repeatedly criticized Moran in the combative interview. He also weighed in on Pelley's fiery commencement address at Wake Forest University last month that caused a stir. "I thought Scott was absolutely spot on," Moran said. "I'm now in a position where I can help in that good work. That fills me with joy as well. We can all put our shoulder to the wheel because I do think he's right. This is a moment of danger, and I'm happy to be able to help if I can." Pelley warned graduates of threats to truth, DEI and freedom of speech under the Trump administration and urged them to speak up against it. "In this moment, this moment, this morning, our sacred rule of law is under attack. Journalism is under attack. Universities are under attack. Freedom of speech is under attack. And insidious fear is reaching through our schools, our businesses, our homes and into our private thoughts, the fear to speak in America. If our government is, in Lincoln's phrase, 'Of the people, by the people, for the people,' then why are we afraid to speak?" Pelley said at one part of the address. During the Monday interview, Moran doubled down on his June 8 social media post that called Trump and White House aide Stephen Miller "world-class haters." "This, while very hot, is an observation, a description that is accurate and true," he said. He added later, "It was something that was in my heart and mind. And I would say I used very strong language, deliberately, because he, I felt, and it wasn't any – you see him all the time doing the same, spitting venom and lies into our debate, degrading our public discourse, debasing it and using the power of the White House and what he's been given to grind us down in that bile. And, that's very disturbing to me." Moran deleted the post and was initially suspended by ABC News over the incident. The network, which he had worked at since 1997, fired him days later, just before his contact was set to expire. He also reflected on the fallout from the post in his conversation with Miller. "I realized that this was going to be a very serious situation and had to stand up, you know, and deal with it. And activity is one of the best things to assuage fear. But also, I thought about it in my own conscience first. And I thought, as I tell you, I wrote it because I thought it was true. And at the end of the day, when all the bad stuff has happened, my children will know that whatever it means, it means that," he said.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
ABC suspends reporter who interviewed Trump over devastating analysis of president
ABC News suspended journalist Terry Moran on Sunday after the veteran reporter posted tweets describing the president and his top adviser, Stephen Miller, as 'world-class haters'. Moran, in two tweets, described Donald Trump and Miller, the architect of the president's mass deportation policy, as filled with hatred of their respective political enemies. But Trump's, Moran said, was 'a means to an end, and that end [is] his his own glorification.' 'That's his spiritual nourishment," added Moran. In a statement, a spokesperson for the network said that Moran was suspended pending an evaluation over his ability to be objective and impartial as a journalist. "ABC News stands for objectivity and impartiality in its news coverage and does not condone subjective personal attacks on others. The post does not reflect the views of ABC News and violated our standards — as a result, Terry Moran has been suspended pending further evaluation," a spokesman told Fox News. The Independent contacted ABC News for further comment. This is a breaking news report. More to follow...
The Independent
08-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
ABC suspends reporter who interviewed Trump over devastating analysis of president
ABC News suspended journalist Terry Moran on Sunday after the veteran reporter posted tweets describing the president and his top adviser, Stephen Miller, as 'world-class haters'. Moran, in two tweets, described Donald Trump and Miller, the architect of the president's mass deportation policy, as filled with hatred of their respective political enemies. But Trump's, Moran said, was 'a means to an end, and that end [is] his his own glorification.' 'That's his spiritual nourishment," added Moran. In a statement, a spokesperson for the network said that Moran was suspended pending an evaluation over his ability to be objective and impartial as a journalist. "ABC News stands for objectivity and impartiality in its news coverage and does not condone subjective personal attacks on others. The post does not reflect the views of ABC News and violated our standards — as a result, Terry Moran has been suspended pending further evaluation," a spokesman told Fox News.
