Both President Barack Obama and his Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney will for the first time in election history participate in television programs directed specifically at an audience of Hispanics. Univision, the Spanish-language network will broadcast the programs to discuss America’s education and the Hispanic community’s future.
The events are titled Meet the Candidates and will be televised September 19 and 20. The first will have Romney, while the second will have Obama. Both will be telecast in front of live audiences at the BankUnited Center on the campus of the University of Miami, said Univision.
Maria Elena Salinas and Jorge Ramos will moderate both of the events. The two are anchors on the nightly news for Univision. The president of Univision Networks, Cesar Conde said in a prepared statement that Hispanics would play a major role in who is elected president in November. Conde’s statement went on to say that the two events will help address a number of critical issues that over 20 million Hispanics, who are expected to vote, want to listen to in order to make a more informed decision on who to vote for.
Conde also said in his statement that having direct contact with the Hispanic voters shows the candidates’ desire to get closer to a younger and more active group in the social media scene than the average voter. He said the influence of the group continues to grow in the U.S. political arena.
Univision has been pushing the two candidates to accept their proposal to address the Hispanic voters directly and that will be accomplished on September 19 and 20 through these two events.
