Cynthia Hudson of CNN en Español: The US media are understanding that we Hispanics are their future

The importance and influence of journalism in Spanish in the US was the focus of the Periodismo con Ñ conference, organized by the Cádiz Press Association (APC) in collaboration with the Inter-American Press Association (SIP) at the Indigo Hotel in Brickell in Miami. Cynthia Hudson, Senior VP and General Director of CNN en Español and Hispanic Strategy for CNN participated in the first panel of the event and highlighted that the US media “are understanding that we Hispanics are their future.” She mentioned that more and more bilingual journalists from CNN en Español are included in Anglo CNN programs and are invited to political debates alongside their Anglo-Saxon counterparts, “because they know that it is the only way to grow.”

“Journalism for Latinos will continue to evolve, perhaps there will be more Hispanic journalism in Anglo media, perhaps not in Spanish, but in English,” she said, noting that the Hispanic vote will be of great importance for the 2024 elections.

This first panel also included Leopoldo Gómez, president of TelevisaUnivision News; Armando Varela, Chief Editor of La Opinión in Los Angeles, and Sonia Osorio, a journalist for the Miami Herald and President of the Association of Venezuelan Journalists Abroad (Apevex).

The opening of the event was led by Mabel Caballero, VP, APC; Ricardo Trotti, Executive Director of the IAPA, and Juan Carlos Pereira, of the Spain and US Chamber of Commerce of Spain and the US.

“The issue regarding Hispanic journalism has grown and will continue to do so as the expansion and acceptance of our culture continues. There are generations that have grown up with Dora the Explorer, Princesa Sofía, and the Disney movies Encanto and Coco. Every day our culture continues to have importance within what is American culture, like it or not. And every day our culture clings more to American popular culture,” Hudson emphasized.

Gómez, TelevisaUnivision, highlighted that the Spanish-speaking media have a higher degree of trust within the community than those of the general market. “We know that in the US there is a clear crisis of media trust.” He also mentioned that there is a great difference between “participating in a medium like Televisa in Mexico and Univision in the US. This allows us to understand the Hispanic culture from a different perspective, the intimate connection that exists between the Hispanic media and the Hispanic community, and the reason is that our target is a specific audience. We are niche media. It is not for the general public, but for the Hispanic.”

Osorio, from the New Herald, mentioned challenges in how to retain audiences, and one way to overcome them is to “go deeper in digital journalism.” She added that McClatchy, the group that owns the newspaper, “is investing more in content for Hispanics.”