The inside story: Univision’s war with Rubio over immigration, drug report

The senator’s staff and Univision insiders say the network tried to pressure him into appearing on a show by offering to soften a story about his brother-in-law.
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By Marc Caputo and Manny Garcia
mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com

Days before Univision aired a controversial story this summer about the decades-old drug bust of Marco Rubio’s brother-in-law, top staff with the Spanish-language media powerhouse offered what sounded like a deal to the U.S. senator’s staff.

If Rubio appeared on Al Punto —Univision’s national television show where the topic of immigration would likely be discussed — then the story of his brother-in-law’s troubles would be softened or might not run at all, according to Univision insiders and the Republican senator’s staff. They say the offer was made by Univision’s president of news, Isaac Lee.

But Lee said in an email to The Miami Herald that any insinuation that he offered a quid pro quo was “incorrect” and “defamatory.”

In a written statement Friday, Lee said: “With respect to Senator Rubio, Univision covered the story in the same objective, fair manner we cover every significant story. Univision did not offer to soften or spike a story...we would not make such an offer to any other subject of a news story and did not offer it in this case.”

Rubio never appeared on Al Punto, a national political affairs program broadcast on Sundays. Univision aired the story about Rubio’s brother-in-law, a lower-level player in a 1987 coke-and-pot ring, on July 11.

"I always knew Univision to be a professional organization until this happened," said Rubio, who won’t comment specifically on the case.

POL VS. PRESS

The conflict provides a rarely seen view of a politician warring with the press, and it also underscores the highly charged issue of immigration in the Hispanic community.

Al Punto’s host, Jorge Ramos, is one of Univision’s most-recognized personalities and has advocated for the so-called “DREAM Act,” which Rubio has opposed on the grounds that it gives “amnesty” to illegal immigrants. The long-debated proposal would allow certain children of undocumented immigrants to become legalized U.S. residents.

Univision, headquartered in Doral, is a top-rated network, reaching 95 percent of the 13.3 million Hispanic households in the United States. Its ratings are tops in prime-time in such cities as Los Angeles, San Antonio and Miami — regardless of language. It recently created an investigative team.

The Rubio brother-in-law story was its first investigation. The story about Rubio and his brother-in-law was broadcast in English and Spanish on television and the web over two days.

Univision also pointed the story out to the governor, and emailed reporters from Washington to Miami to highlight “Rubio’s families ties to narco-trafficking.” Univision hyped it on Twitter with the hashtag code "#rubio, # drugs."

Mainstream media sources and bloggers barely gave it play due to the quarter century-old nature of the case and the fact it had no apparent peg to current news.

Rubio found the story — and the resources devoted to it — especially shocking. He had actually worked for Univision as a paid commentator before he ran for Senate. He announced his candidacy for Senate on Univision’s Miami affiliate.

CALL FROM HIS SISTER

Earlier in the year, Rubio’s office had planned to have a Miami Univision reporter follow him around Washington, D.C. — but Univision’s higher-ups scotched the idea as they tried to persuade Rubio to appear on Al Punto.

On the night of July 5, Rubio received a call from his sister, Barbara Cicilia. She was distraught. A Univision reporter had called her about the arrest and incarceration of her husband, Orlando Cicilia, in the 1987 federal bust called “Operation Cobra.” Rubio was 16 at the time. Before Rubio was elected to his first legislative seat, in 2000, Cicilia was cleared for early release.

Mrs. Cicilia refused comment. Univision then sent a news truck to sit outside their West Miami home.

On July 7, Alex Burgos, Rubio’s communications director, and Rubio’s political advisor, Todd Harris, held a 45-minute conference call with a handful of top Univision editorial staffers, including Lee, the news chief who handled most of the discussions for Univision. Harris represented Rubio as Burgos took notes. Rubio was not on the call.

Toward the end of the conversation, Lee brought up Ramos’ show and suggested the drug-bust story could change — or not run at all, according to Harris and Burgos’ notes.

Said Harris: “You’re saying that if Marco does an interview with Ramos, that you will drop this investigation into his family and the story will never air?"

Lee, they say, responded with this statement: "While there are no guarantees, your understanding of the proposal is fair.”

In his statement to The Herald, Lee disputes that. He said “various” people were on the call with Rubio’s staff for what he said was an “off-the-record discussion” about the story, including two of the network’s “top internal legal counsels.”

Rubio and his office initially refused to discuss any aspect of the story with The Herald. But after Univision insiders spoke about the story, Rubio and his staff agreed to speak on the record.

The Herald obtained letters from Rubio’s office to Univision in which Burgos denounced the story and reporting as “outrageous” and “tabloid journalism.” Rubio’s office confirmed their authenticity and later furnished a follow-up letter from Lee in which he again mentioned Al Punto and another show, Aqui y Ahora.

But the Univision sources, with knowledge of the discussions, affirmed Harris’ version of events.

"We were stunned,’’ one Univision executive said. "Can you imagine how embarrassing it is?"

THE GO-BETWEENS

It was also dispiriting. The employees said the story cast a pall over the Doral newsroom because this was its first investigative project, and many questioned the story’s news value.

After he learned of the story, Rubio reached out to friends for advice and numerous go-betweens at Univision.

Republican fundraiser and consultant Ana Navarro said she spoke to Univision higher-ups in hopes of killing the story. She said Rubio’s failure to appear on Ramos’ show was a deciding factor in the drug story.

Navarro was later interviewed on air by Univision, and she discounted the story along with nearly everyone else the station interviewed for reaction.

At one point, she told Rubio to see the positive political aspects of the story: It would make him look good and Univision look bad.

“Don’t you get it,” she says he told her. “This isn’t about me. It’s about the pain this causes my mother and my sister.”

Harris, Rubio’s advisor, has worked for politicians from Gov. Jeb Bush to Sen. John McCain to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on major campaigns.

He said he was so surprised by Univision’s tactics that, at one point, he confessed to Rubio that he might not be able to help.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time, but the new leadership in this newsroom doesn’t play by any of the rules I’m used to,” he said. “I’m used to going to war with the media from time to time, but this new team doesn’t follow the Geneva Convention.’”

When the first story about the drug-bust broke, bloggers dismissed it as a non-story. Neither The Miami Herald nor El Nuevo Herald published the story. A New Times reporter called it “completely irrelevant.”

“Here’s a tip,” reporter Matthew Hendley blogged. “If you’re digging up dirt on a politician, try to find something a little filthier than Sen. Marco Rubio’s brother-in-law being convicted of drug-trafficking charges when the senator was a 16-year-old kid.”

Univision did find support for its report —in Scottsdale, Ariz., where an immigration-reform group called Somos Republicans took Rubio to task for saying Mexican drug-war violence had spilled into the United States.

Univision’s Maria Elena Salinas, co-host of the Aqui y Ahora show that Rubio had also rebuffed, highlighted Somos Republicans by linking to a press release via a Tweet that read: “Marco Rubio knows from experience that Mexico and undocumented are not the only source of drug activity.”

On yet another show, a Univision reporter brought up the case of Rubio’s brother-in-law during an interview with Gov. Rick Scott.

“If something happened or if they discovered something about your brother in law — this is a hypothetical case — would you resign?” a reporter asked.

“Look, I got elected because of who I am,” Scott said.

“Do you agree the public has the right to know?” she asked.

“I’m not sure about other families,” Scott said. “I don’t know whether they should ask other questions about families.”

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/01/v-fullstory/2434296/the-inside-story-univisions-war.html#ixzz1Zuexr8k4

guillermone previously said:

I think it is a dirty trick by Univision. What does his brother in law have anything to do with Rubio's personal character? Rubio went to school, became a lawyer and worked hard, came up through the ranks and attained an outstanding political career based on merits and nothing related to the underworld of drug trafficking. It is irrelevant what his sister's husband did or any relatives for that matter and should have no bearing on his political career.

Nevertheless, this was back in 1987, twenty-four years ago, when Rubio was probably in his late teens or early twenties. Why or what is the purpose of Univision pulling skeletons out of the closet?

Look I personally don't like Rubio, but what is right and fair is one thing put personal opinions is another and univision should not use it against him.

I know for a fact Rubio is an ambitions, phony, your typical politician which makes a lot of promises but in the end delivers little. He does not work for the benefit of the people but rather the interest of his party. He could care less about the immigrants, yet he himself is a beneficiary of all the advantanges his Cuban family was given and received, above and beyond what any other immigrant gets when they first arrive the US.

Yes illegal immigration is wrong, but there must be a middle ground for the children of undocumented who have been in the US a long time, but have proven to be honest, hard working, productive members of society. He should be fighting in favor of those who have demonstrated to be contributors to the United States and not deny assistance to people who deserve more then just a chance.

cibaeño75 previously said:

"Again, it's politics and the emerging competition between different immigrant groups, in this case the traditional Cuban Power base of Florida and the emerging board National based Mexican establishment."

Cuban political power is waning in Florida..just check the results of the last general elections down there. As for different "immigrant" groups, the challenge for the Cubans in Florida is not coming from the Mexicans but from the fairly recent influx of Puerto Ricans to the state. It's not your daddy's Florida anymore. Fundamental changes in the electorate are taking place down there.

cibaeño75 previously said:

"Again, it's politics and the emerging competition between different immigrant groups, in this case the traditional Cuban Power base of Florida and the emerging board National based Mexican establishment."

Cuban political power is waning in Florida..just check the results of the last general elections down there. As for different "immigrant" groups, the challenge for the Cubans in Florida is not coming from the Mexicans but from the fairly recent influx of Puerto Ricans to the state. It's not your daddy's Florida anymore. Fundamental changes in the electorate are taking place down there.