Does it pay to be Bilingual in TV News?
Lou Martínez

Europeans have always bragged about their ability to speak several tongues. In a way they have the right to brag. In this country the ability to speak several languages is held in high regard. It elevates someone to a level of prestige and snootiness. In social circles, if you speak more than one language you’re held in high regard. Headhunters salivate for prospects with multilingual skills. Federal Agencies give top ratings and top dollar for people who possess at the very least bilingual skills.

“Command of Spanish and English languages and two years experience in a commercial television news environment preferred.” This was listed in recent job opening for a TV station in El Paso, Texas. The need for bilingual reporters is out there. In the television news business bilingual skills should make you more competitive for a job, but it doesn’t mean your going to get paid for your additional skill. In fact, there are Hispanic journalists who’s qualifications exceeded those of some of their colleagues; bilingual skills, graduate degree, more years of experience and they still get paid several thousand dollars less than those who fail to carry these additional skills. Of course, it makes it difficult to compete for a salary when you don’t know what your colleagues are making. You only find out once people start sharing what they make. You would think television news managers would appreciate and compensate those who bring something extra to the table; something other than good looks.

The disparagement in salaries for bilingual reporters is astonishing. The purchase of the Telemundo Network by General Electric, the parent company of NBC brought the issue to the forefront. It raised several eyebrows within journalists in the Hispanic broadcast community. After the acquisition, NBC was and still is on a major push to hire bilingual reporters. Network executives began merging newsrooms in major cities. The plan is an ambitious one; to have bilingual reporters file stories for both the Spanish language Telemundo stations and the NBC own and operated stations. GE is merging newsrooms, moving Telemundo employees into existing NBC newsrooms.

In a May 2002 press release, Former NBC's President Andrew Lack, stated, "There aren't going to be any walls between NBC and Telemundo." Lack jumped ship to Sony and left the wall well intact. A 2002 study by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, found Spanish-language reporters are compensated at least 70% less as compared to English-speaking counterparts. The median salary for on air talent at English Speaking television stations is approximately $200,000 a year, in comparison to Spanish language broadcasters who average a salary of $60,001 a year. The UCLA Chicano Study attributes this belittlement to lack of union representation. The study also finds Spanish language journalists with representation make double what their colleague’s make whom work without union representation. As NBC moves to merge Telemundo and NBC news operations, The American Federation for Television Artists has unsuccessfully tried to establish a union at Telemundo news outlets in Chicago and Los Angeles.

AFTRA declared, “that the merger is creating an unfair double standard between the Spanish-language and English-speaking employees at these stations. Maintaining disparate standards for compensation and workplace practices among similarly situated employees is wrong, and in fact contradicts NBC's own publicly expressed interest in and respect for the Latino community.” At a recent GE shareholders meeting AFTRA National President John Connolly addressed shareholders telling them, "Spanish-speaking workers in news and programming at Telemundo receive lower wages and substandard terms of employment than their English-speaking counterparts at NBC who perform the same duties in the same markets, often in the same studios. Working with AFTRA, the Telemundo broadcasters are challenging this discriminatory policy," said Connolly.

In April 2003, reporters at WSNS- TV elected AFTRA as their bargaining representative in a National Labor Relations Board election. It took three separate votes, including a private vote monitored by independent monitors, yet the NBC will not recognize their requests for equal representation. Ironically on June 9th, staffers from WSNS, Telemundo moved into a fully integrated newsroom at WMAQ, the NBC O & O in Chicago. Both stations are broadcasting their 5 P.M. newscast from sets that are literally back-to-back in the same newsroom. A newsroom with different pay scales and labor rights if you are a bilingual journalist hired to work for WSNS.

It is shame how news executives fail to see the value of their Spanish language employees and their crucial skills. Will you see a wave of bilingual broadcasters snubbing NBC and Telemundo? Probably not, television news is a cutthroat industry that just about everyone wants to break into even if it means facing discrimination and unequal rights.