The Financial Times profiles Univision as it begins work in earnest on Fusion, the new cable news channel it is building in conjunction with ABC News. Univision News president Isaac Lee plays a big role in the story, not only for his vision of what his news organization should be, but how he views the English language competition.

Lee is withering about English language rivals’ attempts to appeal to Hispanic audiences, saying that they give little coverage to topics such as immigration.

“They think getting a Hispanic voice is getting a reporter with a Spanish last name,” he says. “It is unbelievable how gringos believe they can have a Latino tone. They end up offending the community and patronising them. We are [portrayed] as the gardeners and the maids.”

Univision’s audience is a few decades younger than the average audience for English language news. It is made all the more amazing by the fact that the budget for Univision News is around 1/10th that of, say, ABC News. As the FT notes, ABC has benefited from Univision talent in recent months, as the two companies forge the new channel together.

In this week’s TVNewser Twitter Index, we set our sights on the weekend broadcast shows, including the Sunday public affairs programs.

As with past trackers, we are looking at the Twitter counts of shows, not hosts, so some hosts may be sapping followers from their programs. Hosts will be featured in future indexes.

So, how do the weekend shows stack up on Twitter?

The Sunday public affairs shows:

“Meet the Press”: 109,717

“This Week”: 18,102

“Face The Nation”: 17,785

“Fox News Sunday”: 51,490

“Al Punto”: 41,336

This was surprising. While “Meet the Press” is the clear leader in followers, both Univision’s Al Punto” and “Fox News Sunday” have strong followings too, surpassing both CBS and ABC. We have already established that CBS does not promote its social accounts as much as its competitors do, but it is still a surprising result.

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Dr. Juan José Rivera is joining Univision News as chief medical correspondent. Rivera is the director of cardiovascular prevention for Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach.

In his new role, Rivera will host two weekly health segments on “Primer Impacto.” He will report on medical news across all Univision’s news platforms as well as contribute to Fusion, the joint Univision-ABC News network that is slated to launch later this year.

“His outstanding medical training and expertise, excellent communication skills, experience in Spanish-language media, and proven dedication to educating the Hispanic community about prevention and other important health issues make him the ideal candidate to lead Univision’s medical reporting efforts,” Univision news president Isaac Lee said in a statement.

Rivera is a former chief medical correspondent for Telemundo and online contributor to NBC News.

As they come together to launch a new network, ABC and Univision have decided on a name for their news and lifestyle channel geared toward Hispanics: Fusion. Fusión, with the same meaning and spelling, but different pronunciation, in Spanish and English, will be based in Miami. The English pronunciation is the one taking hold internally.

TVNewser first reported that “Fusion” was one of the final names being considered back in mid December. Other names under consideration included “Una,” “Powr,” “Vzta” and “Accent.”

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Univision to launch Fusion,” said Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC TV. “Our collaboration will bring unmatched reporting capabilities and understanding of issues and entertainment that resonate with the Hispanic community”

The English-language network will be available at launch in millions of households, including on five of the nation’s biggest distributors: Cablevision, Charter, Cox, AT&T U-verse and Google Fiber.

“Fusion will be the indispensable meeting place for English-speaking Latinos,” added ABC News president Ben Sherwood in an announcement of the name. “Our goal is for this young, vibrant, and media hungry audience to come to Fusion to be informed, entertained and empowered. It will be fresh, fun and optimistic and of great interest to Latinos and non-Latinos alike.”

“Fusion will bring together diverse cultures, voices and viewpoints,” said Isaac Lee, president, Univision News. “We will explore the realities shaping the world, give Latinos a voice in the American conversation and deliver personally relevant local, national and global perspectives.”

The network has hired a CFO and other staffers as it eyes a September launch.

Univison reporter Lourdes Meluzá got a sit-down interview with embattled New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez yesterday.

Menendez is accused of using his influence in a business deal in the Dominican Republic that benefited a longtime friend and donor whose Palm Beach County office was raided by federal agents in January.

More salaciously, the Daily Caller has been reporting on Menendez’s other alleged activities during trips to the Domincan Republic. And so, toward the end of the three-minute interview (more of which will air on Al Punto on Sunday) Meluzá asked Menendez about it. The original interview was in Spanish. This is Univision’s English translation:

Meluzá: Please, Senator, briefly, if you could state, on camera, your position regarding the accusations made by The Daily Caller and others that say that you went to the Dominican Republic and attended parties at Casa de Campo where prostitutes were present, minors, even. Could you reiterate your position and respond to this, please?

Menendez: This is the last time I’ll do this, the last time I do it. Because it’s gotten to a level where the press, the legitimate press, not the leftist or the right wing press, from the left, from the right or the left, where anonymous faceless and nameless people can make an accusation and the press will ask you this question. I could say something about you and say, “Hey, they’re saying this or that anonymously.” Those are lies intended to slander me, and they’re completely… not only absurd, but completely false.

The ABC/Univision venture continues to staff up, and today’s addition is a big one. Jim Avila, who had been ABC’s senior national correspondent, will join Jon Karl on ABC’s White House team. Once the still-unnamed ABC/Univision cable news channel launches, he will become its first White House correspondent.

He will continue to contribute to “20/20″ and will also become ABCs go-to correspondent for issues related to “Hispanic America, immigration reform, education, politics and other issues vitally important to the Latino community,” the network says.

The hiring is significant, and really underscores how seriously ABC and Univison are taking the new joint venture. The last big cable news JV, MSNBC, borrowed its White House correspondent from NBC News, as it still does now. In Avila, the ABC/Univision channel will have a correspondent who can ask questions directly related to its audience.

In his memo to staff, ABC News president Ben Sherwood also announced a new role for political contributor Matthew Dowd (more on that here). The full memo, after the jump.
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The new cable news channel from ABC News and Univision is eyeing a September launch, according to Media Moves. In addition, the network now has a CFO in Tom Finn. Finn joins the JV from ESPN Star Sports, where he was CFO. Before that he was a VP of finance for the Walt Disney Company.

As Media Moves notes, the still-unnamed network doesn’t yet have a CEO, though it sounds as though it will announce one soon.

ABC will handle distribution and commercialization and Univision will be mostly in charge of the content, with both networks pitching in their international and domestic news bureaus talent and resources.

The network has already staffed up online, and has begun hiring TV staffers as well.

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Univision’s coverage of President Obama’s second inauguration begins at 11amET Monday. Jorge Ramos will anchor from D.C., along with Satcha Pretto and Felix de Bedout. They will be joined by Lourdes Meluzá at the Capitol, Luis Megid at the National Mall, Nayeli Chávez-Geller on Pennsylvania Avenue and Blanca Rosa Vílchez from the White House.

Pamela Silva Conde will anchor “Primer Impacto,” Univision’s newsmagazine, live from Washington on Monday at 5pmET.

Univision will also have a special edition of “Al Punto” this morning during the private swearing-in ceremony, followed by a coast-to-coast update at 11:50amET.

Much more from Univision after the jump. Read more

The ABC/Univision cable news channel continues to staff up in advance of its launch later this year. The channel has been building an online team for months, but is beginning to add to its TV production ranks.

TVNewser hears that latest additions are Rayner Ramirez, who had been a producer at NBC News “Dateline,” and Dax Tejera, who had been a producer on “Now with Alex Wagner.”

ABC says they will be working on “program development” for the still-unnamed channel which will be based in Miami.

In a panel discussion at The Paley Center for Media in New York late last week, ABC News president Ben Sherwood and Univision News president Isaac Lee discussed the upcoming cable news channel the companies are launching with Paley CEO Pat Mitchell.

Mitchell pressed them on what the new channel will be called, and though they dodged her questions it sounds as though they are close to finalizing a name. I previously reported that among the top contenders are “Una,” “U&A,” “Accent,” “VZTA” and “POWR.” We hear that another finalist is the name “Fusion.”

In describing the venture, Sherwood talked about how “news” is more than just politics, but also includes entertainment and sports, among other things.

“We are expanding the definition of what news is because it means something very different to a 34 year old or a 24 year old,” Sherwood said.

WATCH:

Univision & ABC News Roundtable: Isaac Lee & Ben Sherwood from The Paley Center for Media on FORA.tv