The head of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists sent a harsh message to the Commission on Presidential Debates regarding the lack of a Latino moderator in the upcoming sanctioned face-offs between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
NAHJ President Hugo Balta said in a video posted Wednesday night that the commission that sanctions the debates _ watched by as many as 80 million TV viewers _ is perpetuating the "erasure" of Latinos by failing to represent them in the moderator choices announced earlier that day.
"Three white co-chairs of the Commission on Presidential Debates have once again denied Hispanics and Latinos a seat at the table approaching election 2020," Balta said. "It is preposterous to look at the state of our country and increasingly polarized communities across the nation, and not be left to wonder how is it possible that our community remains excluded. When the people in the positions who sincerely inform 32 million eligible voters do not fulfill their responsibility, it is not a question to us as to why Latinos' civic engagement is low each election year."
The moderators announced for the debates are two white men, Chris Wallace of Fox News and Steve Scully of C-SPAN, and two women, Susan Page of USA Today and Kristen Welker of NBC News, who is Black. The first debate will be held Sept. 29 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
The commission, a nonprofit body that has organized the presidential debates since 1987, did not respond to a request for comment on Balta's remarks.
NAHJ has about 2,300 members, made up of working Latino journalists and journalism students.
Balta said the lack of Latino representation is particularly glaring in a campaign where one of the major issues, the pandemic, disproportionately affects underprivileged portions of the population.
There is no shortage of qualified Latino anchors who could have served as debate moderators, said one network correspondent who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Jose Diaz-Balart, a bilingual anchor who works at NBC News and Telemundo; Tom Llamas and Cecilia Vega, weekend anchors for "ABC World News Tonight"; Lulu Garcia-Navarro of NPR; and Ed O'Keefe, a political correspondent for CBS News, are among the Latino journalists who have been immersed in coverage of the 2020 White House race.
Network news executives are tight-lipped about their discussions with the commission, but an executive with knowledge of the situation said at least one of those names was suggested for the debates.
