Spanish misinformation: Americano media creates Radio Libre, cartoonist fights misinfo

The latest on misinformation and disinformation on Spanish-language radio and social media this campaign season.

Hey everyone! Happy Friday.

There are only 25 days until the midterms. Buckle up!

It’s Lesley Cosme Torres again, here with the latest on Spanish-language disinformation in South Florida elections. This week I’ve looked at a local conservative Spanish-language media company, Americano Media, that announced it is transitioning to Miami radio, why migrants from Venezuela are not entering the country illegally, and how an illustrator is creating cartoons to battle misinformation in Latino communities.

In recent tech news, Meta said its Spanish misinformation prediction models in the United States were working as well as its English-language models, and have significantly increased the amount of Spanish content sent to fact checkers, The New York Times reported. Twitter also said its newly redesigned labels, which are translated based on users’ language preferences, helped shrink the amount of engagement misinformation their platform gets.

As always, If you read or hear anything you find misleading on Spanish-language radio or on social media via WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, or Twitter, email me. Enjoy your weekend!

Lesley

Americano Media, a Spanish-language conservative media company based in Miami, will hit local AM radio airwaves

Americano Media recently announced it will be expanding its reach to conservative Latinos by transitioning to local radio. The company purchased an AM station through a partnership with Audacy. The station formerly known as all-sports “790 The Ticket” will now be called “Radio Libre 790.” The owners added that Radio Libre 790’s programming would reach Hispanic communities across the country, while some will be specific to South Florida. The station will feature Americano’s current shows, with hosts Nelson Rubio, Dania Alexandrino and Lourdes Ubieta.

“We are absolutely committed to growing our national footprint across America through our app, syndicated radio and our streaming TV platform,” Jorge Arrizurieta, president of Americano Media, said in an interview. “The only way for Americano to break into Spanish-language terrestrial radio across the country was to start with a nationwide platform on SiriusXM, then shift over to a local market first and grow from there.”

Americano Media has been criticized for bringing on former Radio Mambí hosts who are known to allow Spanish-language misinformation and conspiracy theories to persist from callers and guests who came on their shows.

Why migrants crossing the southern border to seek asylum aren’t ‘illegal’

Since Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent a plane of 48 Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, many news outlets, conservative media included, referred to the migrants as “illegal immigrants.” This included a video by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who said “the 48 migrants from Venezuela who violated our laws a week ago entered our country illegally,” and conservative Spanish-language news outlet El American. Factchequeado explained that migrants who enter the United States through a port of entry requesting asylum are protected by U.S. law.

“It is grossly incorrect to claim that the migrants sent to Martha’s Vineyard entered in violation of our laws. It is legal to apply for asylum in the United States. Furthermore, each of these migrants were ‘paroled’ in the country, [therefore] they are not here illegally,” Amy Grenier, policy adviser for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told Factchequeado.

Parole, she added, is the legal term used by immigration authorities to refer to migrants who are temporarily allowed to be in the United States. If asylum is granted, the migrant will be able to remain in the United States and apply for permanent residence.

Illustrator fights COVID-19 and election misinformation in Latino communities through his award-winning cartoon

Lalo Alcaraz, an award-winning cartoonist, has been creating cartoons and animation to battle vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 misinformation in Latino communities nationwide in both Spanish and English. He started by creating cartoons to address vaccine hesitancy but is now addressing general misinformation in the 2022 midterm elections for Soy Latino, Sí Voto, a campaign focused on Arizona, Florida and Puerto Rico. His current cartoons about misinformation in the 2022 midterm elections target Latino families.

“Living through the pandemic I was just really disappointed at how many people in our community, all levels of education in the Latino community, were attacked and influenced by misinformation,” Alcaraz said. “There’s massive amounts of it in Spanish. … It’s disheartening to see people give into conspiracy thinking. It’s a big problem.”

This newsletter is part of a project on misinformation in Spanish-language media by the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald and researchers at Florida International University. It is funded by Journalism Funding Partners, which received support from the Knight Disinformation Fund at The Miami Foundation. The Miami Herald retains editorial control of the content.

This story was originally published October 14, 2022 at 10:49 AM.