Book Excerpt: Jorge Ramos’ ‘Take A Stand’
— -- From TAKE A STAND: Lessons From Rebels by Jorge Ramos, published by arrangement with Celebra, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2016 by Jorge Ramos.
ONE
Taking a Stand in 2016
“Are you an activist or a journalist?”
I have been asked that question many times recently, and I understand why. When a journalist takes a stand—as I have done when it comes to immigration and human rights—and confronts public figures—as I have done with presidents, presidential candidates, and all kinds of politicians—then the line between advocacy and journalism is a little difficult to define. But there are clear differences.To take a stand does not mean to be partisan. Don’t be a Republican or a Democrat, just be a journalist. To take a stand simply reaffirms the conviction that our most important social role as journalists is to denounce the abuse of power when we see it so that it can be prevented. To always offer two opposing points of view—as is the case in many newscasts on TV—does not guarantee that the truth will prevail.
The 2016 presidential campaign has given us plenty of opportunities to test the ethical limits of what journalists can and should do. So let me start by answering the query at the beginning of this chapter. I am the latter—just a reporter asking questions.
However, I have not stayed neutral about the immigration debate and the importance of Latinos in the United States. I took a stand. And that is perfectly acceptable in journalism. The best examples of great journalism that we have in this country—Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, and the Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein—always involve a journalist making an ethical decision and taking a stand.
To take a stand does not mean that I cannot write, analyze, conduct interviews, and report with full independence like any other journalist. I can and I do do that every night on Univision’s newscast and weekly on Fusion’s America. But the fact that I am an immigrant and a Latino has an influence on what I do as a journalist (and I am completely transparent about it). No journalist works in a vacuum. “I am I and my circumstance,” wrote Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset in 1914.
So let me give you an example of how I have taken a stand during the presidential campaign of 2015–16. During the incredibly intense summer of 2015 when there were seventeen Republicans and four Democrats running for the White House before the election—our country experienced one of the most xenophobic and anti-immigrant moments that I remember since I arrived here as a student more than three decades ago.
Immigrants are an easy target for vote-seeking presidential hopefuls, TV talking heads, and social media pundits. After all, the undocumented amongst them usually cannot defend themselves. When was the last time you saw an undocumented immigrant on TV responding to criticism leveled at him by a candidate vying for the White House? That scenario is extremely rare. A vast majority would rather stay silent in order to avoid deportation.
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