The Silent Crisis: How Losing Spanish-Language News Threatens Democracy in Monterey County
Published
- 3 min read
The Facts:
KMUV 23, the Central California Coast’s only local Spanish-language television news station and a Telemundo affiliate, abruptly closed in late September without warning. This devastating closure eliminated the primary source of reliable local information for Monterey County’s substantial Spanish-speaking population, which comprises almost two-thirds of the county’s residents according to the U.S. Census. More than a quarter of residents are foreign-born, with 102,772 people specifically from Latin America—making this loss particularly catastrophic for the community’s access to vital information.
The station was owned by Missouri-based News-Press & Gazette Co., which operates TV stations across 10 regions nationally. The closure followed a broader pattern of local media deterioration in the region, including the collapse of the Salinas Californian (which no longer publishes daily) and the Monterey Herald, which has significantly reduced its operations. This collapse also ended El Sol, a local bi-weekly Spanish-language newspaper, marking the latest in a disturbing trend that began two decades ago with the closure of the San Jose Mercury News’ Spanish-language weekly, Nuevo Mundo.
Professor Suzanne García of Cal State Monterey Bay emphasizes that Spanish-language news isn’t simply translated English content—it’s specifically tailored to the immigrant experience, identity, and cultural context. The vacuum left by KMUV’s closure has forced Spanish-speaking residents to increasingly rely on social media for news, which lacks the fact-checking and reporting standards of professional journalism. Sandy Santos, the station’s last producer, warned that this shift leads to “chaos, misinformation and half-truth,” while health outreach worker Alejandra Ruiz confirmed that migrant communities are turning to unreliable social media sources for critical information about immigration raids and local developments.
Opinion:
This isn’t merely a business closure—it’s a democratic emergency that should alarm every American who values freedom, representation, and equal access to information. The silencing of Spanish-language local news represents a catastrophic failure to uphold the fundamental principles of our Constitution, which guarantees freedom of the press and equal protection under the law for all citizens, regardless of language or origin.
When corporate media entities prioritize profits over people’s right to information, they’re not just making business decisions—they’re actively undermining democracy itself. The loss of KMUV 23 creates what can only be described as an information apartheid, where Spanish-speaking citizens are systematically denied the tools necessary for informed civic participation. This isn’t just about missing weather reports or local event coverage—it’s about whether tens of thousands of American residents can access critical information about school policies, immigration enforcement, public health, and voting rights.
As a staunch defender of constitutional principles, I find this development absolutely reprehensible. The First Amendment wasn’t written exclusively for English speakers—it guarantees a free press for all Americans. When media consolidation and corporate greed create information deserts for specific linguistic communities, we’re witnessing a betrayal of our most sacred democratic values. This closure doesn’t just harm the Latino community—it harms all of us by weakening our collective access to truth, undermining informed voting, and creating conditions ripe for corruption and misinformation.
We must demand better from media corporations and recognize that language access isn’t a niche concern—it’s a fundamental democratic requirement. Until every American can access reliable news in their primary language, we cannot claim to have a truly free press or a fully functional democracy.