I don’t know if it was related to yesterday’s ERSNews.com scoop about Univision feeding the mayor questions in advance of his appearances on their station’s show "On Your Side."
Univision is conducting an investigation to see who leaked to Longabardi.
Hoy (Spanish-language daily owned by the Tribune company) profiled Longabardi today and took a few shots at blogs.
The USC journalism professor quoted in the story slamming blogs had not even bothered to check out Longabardi’s website.
Here’s the Hoy piece translated into English:
"Villaraigosa a su lado" segment comes under scrutiny
Every Wednesday, mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appeared on a segment of the local Univision, KMEX channel 34, newscast where he answered in live video questions posed by the anchors. The inquiries were supposed to be spontaneous, but a report published on the Internet casts doubts about the "spontaneity" of the segment.
According to The Enterprise Report, ERSNews.com, station employees sent emails previously to Diana Rubio, one of the mayor’s spokesperons, with the questions that would be presented in the segment. ERSNews.com reports also indicates the questions were meant to put the mayor in a favorable light and were not supposed to include controversy.
The Segment, Villaraigosa A Su Lado, disappeared after the scandal broke on the extramarital affair between the mayor and Mirthala Salinas, a Telemundo, channel 52 reporter. Questioned about the report on ERSNews.com yesterday during the opening of a Chinese food restaurant at Universal City Walk, the mayor denied that he had received those questions previously or that they had to have his approval prior to the interviews.
"No," he answered to both questions. "From time to time, some of you (reporters) give the general thrust of a questions," he added.
Marta Cepeda, executive assistant at Univision, channel 34, told HOY they knew about the report on ERSNews.com "We’re aware of it. Our legal department is reviewing the information and until they say something, we can not declare anything," said Cepeda.
Media experts said that if the report is true, this could pose some journalism ethical problems. "It’s not against the ethics if I send the questions previously so that the interviewee prepares himself. But, if you say or make it seem that the questions are yours, that could be misleading…Finally, who defines the journalism agenda? It shouldn’t be the mayor, but the channel (Univision)", said Julio Morán, executive director of CCNMA: California Latino Journalists.
Félix Gutierrez, journalism professor at the University of Southern California (USC), also said you should clearly inform the public if the questions have been referred to the mayor previously. That would be ethical, not letting people get the impression that the interviewer made the comment or the questions in an spontaneous way", he said.
These experts also criticized reports with anonymous sources that appear on Internet sites like ERSNews.com. "I have a problem dealing with information printed on a web page like that (ERSNews.com). You have to be careful because you can just make an acussation freely", said Moran. Gutierrez also criticized this type of information. "People are smart enough to know that a ´blog´ is just a source of gossip", said Gutierrez. "It can help journalists to obtain information, but it is your obligation look for sources that confirm this information before publishing it in their own mediums".
The new revelations come three weeks after a scandal broke after the announcement of the relationship between Villaraigosa and Salinas. Telemundo continues investigating is Salinas broke any ethical rules because of this.
Behind the new revelations and several others with respect to the mayor’s relationship with Salinas is ERSNews.com, an Internet site that has been publishing all kinds of details about the romance.
With barely three months, this Internet site uses anomymous sources to back up their reports. "They are anonymous sources because they fear being fired", said Eric Longabardi, investigative reporter who created the site along with partner Roger Scott.
This was the case with the latest revelations between Univision and the mayor-something Longbardi criticizes. "She (Rubio, the mayor’s spokesperson) was inside the editorial making process and helping shaping it", said Longabardi. "(The segment) is as if the mayor was talking to one of his staff".
HOY called and sent several emails to the mayor’s office seeking a comment from Rubio, but by publishing time there was no response. Longabardi added that Rubio "is probably going to take the sword on this one", pero added that-based on the emails he received from his source-"they were all in bed with each other".
