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Rise in Hispanic Population May Lead to Programming Changes

Aired January 22, 2003 - 13:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: They're a new major minority. New census figures show Hispanics have surged past blacks as the fastest growing minority. How does that translate into every day life?
Well, we turn for some ideas to CNN En Espanol's Daniel Viotto. He's right downstairs in our CNN En Espanol bureau -- how are you?

DANIEL VIOTTO, CNN EN ESPANOL: Fine, Kyra. How are you? It is nice to be with you today.

PHILLIPS: Good. Nice to see you too. Let's talk about the growth of CNN En Espanol. I remember, more than a decade ago, this bureau consisted of a handful of people. Now it's an entire network.

VIOTTO: Absolutely true. Everything started in 1988 from "Headline News," very close from here, when had a half an hour show. And, like you said, just a few people working there. But in 1997, we launched CNN En Espanol. We thought that that was possibility of having news in Latin America and also in the U.S. And, well, we have today about 150 people from every country in Latin America working here at CNN En Espanol. It's a great job, a great experience working for Latin America and also now for our market growing every day here in the U.S.

PHILLIPS: And what caused this growth? I mean, I'm looking at the faces now, these correspondents. Oh, and there's Harris Whitbeck many years ago. What pushed the network to grow? What created the demand?

VIOTTO: There are lot of reasons why the population is growing in the U.S. I will say that immigration and people moving from other countries to the U.S. looking for job opportunities and a better life, that's the main reason, and that is the way we should look at these numbers that we have now. It is official, the Latino community may be the largest minority in the U.S. It's a minority that is working very hard in the country, is paying taxes, is trying to make a living here, and they are having an impact. And Kyra, we are seeing these numbers that are absolutely amazing, almost 38 million today.

PHILLIPS: And with that growth, of course, we're going to see affirmative action, bilingual education, a lot of issues coming to the forefront. How is this going to change the quality of life in the Hispanic community now?

VIOTTO: Well, about affirmative action and bilingual education, I think that these numbers that we are having today are going to have, definitely, an impact in both position, those that are for affirmative action and against, and definitely it's going to reinforce the debate about those issues.

PHILLIPS: And now, you're starting a new show, "Directo Estados Unidos".

VIOTTO: Yes, yes.

PHILLIPS: Talk about that, and what created the demand for this now?

VIOTTO: "Directo Estados Unidos" is Direct U.S.A. That will be the translation. We had an idea about a year ago to build a bridge between Latin America and their loved ones living in the U.S. And we said OK, how can we combine both parts of the audience, and do something that is going to be interesting for both of them at the same time? That was the idea for "Directo," and it is working really good.

So our audience in the U.S. that is growing, we think is going to be like 3 millions by the end of this year, can have stories and news from their countries, and at the same time we are airing the shows in Latin America so they can know what's going on with their loved ones living here in the U.S. The response of people, let me tell you, Kyra, has been exciting. It's just people sending us e-mails from Latin America and from the U.S. They are very happy with what we are doing with "Directo," and we are planning to expand. We are going to do "Directo" in prime time for the West coast very soon.

PHILLIPS: All right. Daniel Viotto, CNN En Espanol. Thank you so much. We appreciate your time.

VIOTTO: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: You have a newscast to do.

VIOTTO: Yes, we have "Encuentro" at 4:00.

PHILLIPS: Very good, all right. Have a great day. Thanks, Daniel.

VIOTTO: You too. Bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Changes>


Aired January 22, 2003 - 13:40   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: They're a new major minority. New census figures show Hispanics have surged past blacks as the fastest growing minority. How does that translate into every day life?
Well, we turn for some ideas to CNN En Espanol's Daniel Viotto. He's right downstairs in our CNN En Espanol bureau -- how are you?

DANIEL VIOTTO, CNN EN ESPANOL: Fine, Kyra. How are you? It is nice to be with you today.

PHILLIPS: Good. Nice to see you too. Let's talk about the growth of CNN En Espanol. I remember, more than a decade ago, this bureau consisted of a handful of people. Now it's an entire network.

VIOTTO: Absolutely true. Everything started in 1988 from "Headline News," very close from here, when had a half an hour show. And, like you said, just a few people working there. But in 1997, we launched CNN En Espanol. We thought that that was possibility of having news in Latin America and also in the U.S. And, well, we have today about 150 people from every country in Latin America working here at CNN En Espanol. It's a great job, a great experience working for Latin America and also now for our market growing every day here in the U.S.

PHILLIPS: And what caused this growth? I mean, I'm looking at the faces now, these correspondents. Oh, and there's Harris Whitbeck many years ago. What pushed the network to grow? What created the demand?

VIOTTO: There are lot of reasons why the population is growing in the U.S. I will say that immigration and people moving from other countries to the U.S. looking for job opportunities and a better life, that's the main reason, and that is the way we should look at these numbers that we have now. It is official, the Latino community may be the largest minority in the U.S. It's a minority that is working very hard in the country, is paying taxes, is trying to make a living here, and they are having an impact. And Kyra, we are seeing these numbers that are absolutely amazing, almost 38 million today.

PHILLIPS: And with that growth, of course, we're going to see affirmative action, bilingual education, a lot of issues coming to the forefront. How is this going to change the quality of life in the Hispanic community now?

VIOTTO: Well, about affirmative action and bilingual education, I think that these numbers that we are having today are going to have, definitely, an impact in both position, those that are for affirmative action and against, and definitely it's going to reinforce the debate about those issues.

PHILLIPS: And now, you're starting a new show, "Directo Estados Unidos".

VIOTTO: Yes, yes.

PHILLIPS: Talk about that, and what created the demand for this now?

VIOTTO: "Directo Estados Unidos" is Direct U.S.A. That will be the translation. We had an idea about a year ago to build a bridge between Latin America and their loved ones living in the U.S. And we said OK, how can we combine both parts of the audience, and do something that is going to be interesting for both of them at the same time? That was the idea for "Directo," and it is working really good.

So our audience in the U.S. that is growing, we think is going to be like 3 millions by the end of this year, can have stories and news from their countries, and at the same time we are airing the shows in Latin America so they can know what's going on with their loved ones living here in the U.S. The response of people, let me tell you, Kyra, has been exciting. It's just people sending us e-mails from Latin America and from the U.S. They are very happy with what we are doing with "Directo," and we are planning to expand. We are going to do "Directo" in prime time for the West coast very soon.

PHILLIPS: All right. Daniel Viotto, CNN En Espanol. Thank you so much. We appreciate your time.

VIOTTO: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: You have a newscast to do.

VIOTTO: Yes, we have "Encuentro" at 4:00.

PHILLIPS: Very good, all right. Have a great day. Thanks, Daniel.

VIOTTO: You too. Bye.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Changes>