Is LA's Spanish-language Media Protecting Illegal Alien Lawbreakers?

"Todas las noticias apropiadas para imprimir"
("All the news fit to print")


On New Year's Day, John Kerns, 49, was struck and killed by a vehicle while he was walking along the sidewalk on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles. The vehicle is believed to have swerved across the width of the street before striking Kerns. The driver of the car, who has been identified as Cristobal Arellano, fled the scene on foot. To this date, he has not been captured and is believed to be hiding in Mexico. It is also believed that Arellano, a Mexican male 22-25 years of age, is an illegal alien. It is also believed that he was intoxicated while operating the vehicle.

On January 18, 2008, the LAPD held a news conference to ask for the public's help in locating Arellano. As is customary, all the local news outlets were notified of the press conference in advance, including the Spanish language outlets- Telemundo and Univision. All of the local news outlets attended the conference with the exception of Telemundo and Univision. Naturally, the LAPD asked the public through the news organizations to call in with any information as to Arellano's whereabouts.

While the other English-language news organizations reported the incident, the Spanish outlets did not. To date, the LAPD officers investigating the case have received no calls.

Today, the sister of Kerns, Lynn Stanton, was interviewed on the KFI John and Ken show, expressing her frustration at the lack of cooperation and lack of interest from the Spanish media.

It goes without saying that if the police are trying to gain help from the public in locating a suspect, the help of the news media is crucial in publicizing the incident. If the suspect is from the Spanish-speaking community, the help of the Spanish-language media is crucial. Yet for some reason, Telemundo and Univision seem unwilling to publicize incidents of this nature. Why? Why cannot these two organizations do their civic duty as a Los Angeles-based news outlet? Is it because they don't want to publicize crimes by illegal aliens? Is it because they are unwilling to aid in the capture of an illegal alien?

John and Ken have put the telephone numbers of Univision and Telemundo on their website for anyone who would like to call and inquire as to why they are not reporting this story.

Univision News- 310-3483495
Telemundo News- 818-260-5712