Univision and ABC News flexed the combined muscle of their newly-minted partnership at a breakfast panel at the University Club in Tampa this morning. The event, which examined the surging Hispanic population and its place in American politics, was moderated by ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Univision’s Jorge Ramos and National Journal’s Ron Brownstein.

Before talk turned to politics, however, Sawyer and Ramos took a few minutes to discuss the upcoming launch of ABC and Univision’s joint venture, an English-language cable channel targeting a Hispanic audience.

“Everybody at ABC News is beyond excited. In fact, a producer said last night, ‘I was watching Jorge, and I don’t speak Spanish yet, but he was so fascinating I watched the ten-minute interview,’” Sawyer said, drawing laughter from the crowd of about 100. “It’s going to be a great journey of discovery as we all examine what’s happening.”

The pair talked about the goal of tapping into a rapidly-growing demographic of English-speaking people of Hispanic descent.

“We’re doing great in Spanish, but then we realize about one in four Latinos feel much more comfortable in English than in Spanish,” Ramos said. “Either we do it, or somebody else is going to do it. That’s the future of Latinos.”

It’s a demographic that Ramos, the father of two, is very familiar with personally.

“We’re doing all this simply so my kids can watch me,” Ramos joked. “They don’t watch me. So we asked ABC to help us.”

After signing off from “Morning Joe” Tuesday, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski headed over to panel put on by the St. Pete-based Poynter Institute where the MSNBC hosts reacted to what happened on Monday’s show when their colleague Chris Matthews got into it with RNC Chairman Reince Preibus.

• Watch: Chris Matthews Explodes At RNC Chair Reince Preibus On ‘Morning Joe’

Scarborough told the crowd of 500 he was upset that his show “wasted five minutes of the audience’s time” during Matthews’ outburst, which did “absolutely nothing to illuminate the conversation.”

“We love Chris, Chris loves us, Chris comes on the show all the time, and we want him back again,” Scarborough said. Nevertheless, he doesn’t support political outbursts like Matthews.’

“Our strategy for discourse on the show is to have a civil one,” adds Brzezinski. “I think things went off the rails a little bit, and it wasn’t our best show. It’s live, it’s three hours a day, and sometimes we have a good show and sometimes we don’t have such a good show.”

Merrill was at a much more “on the rails” show yesterday as she continues to cover the media as they cover the RNC. Here’s her report. This morning Merrill attended an ABC News/Univision breakfast with Diane Sawyer and Jorge Ramos. Look for that story later.

(h/t ICN)

The Committee for Presidential Debates might have said no, but the candidates have said “yes” to participating in a Univision forum for Hispanic issues.

Produced in participation with Facebook, the forums will take place leading up to the election in November, and will be presented in both Spanish and English. Rather than use a debate format, each forum will feature one of the two candidates, with Univision anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas moderating. There will be interactive elements on Univision’s Facebook page, and on Facebook;’s U.S. politics page.

“These events speak to President Obama and Governor Romney recognizing the important role Hispanic America will play in the elections and in defining the future of our country,” said Univision News President Isaac Lee in a statement. “In our role of informing and empowering our audience, and as part of Univision’s 50-year relationship with this community, these conversations are critically important to the community we serve. This important discussion is increasingly taking place on Facebook and we are excited to utilize the world’s largest social network to get people involved with issues that matter most to them.”

Univision asked the Debate Commission and the candidates to participate in a forum on Hispanic issues. The Commission declined, but the message clearly got across to the candidates.

Univision anchor Jorge Ramos is interviewed by Forbes about the network’s proposed Presidential debate on Latino issues. Along the way, he also puts on his media criticism cap:

How do you think the English-language networks are doing in terms of their coverage issues that affect the Hispanic community?

I don’t think they get it yet, and that’s a problem. The perfect example was yesterday. It was the most important day when it comes to immigration news in 26 years, since President Ronald Reagan gave an amnesty in 1986. What happened yesterday was of supreme importance. About 1.7 million undocumented students had a chance to apply for deferred action, not to be deported. Nothing as big has happened in the last 26 years, and we were the only network who started the newscast with that. I find that incredible.

When was the last time you saw an undocumented student talking on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN or Fox News? It’s very hard to find their voices, so I don’t think they get it yet.

Update: The knives are out from Ramos’ comment. See below.
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ABC News has announced its coverage plans for the 2012 Republican and Democratic conventions. At the moment, the news division is getting one hour a night in primetime from 10-11PM to broadcast cover the events, though the network stresses that those are the only confirmed times, and that more hours may be added. Diane Saywer and George Stephanopoulos will lead the network’s coverage.

In addition, ABC is planning more than 30 hours of live-streaming coverage for ABC News digital and Yahoo! from the conventions, and every show, from “GMA” and ‘ABC World News” to “Nightline” will originate from Tampa and Charlotte.

Live-streaming coverage will run from 7:00 PM-11:30 PM, and will be anchored by ABC News political chief Amy Walter and Yahoo!’s DC bureau chief David Chalian, joined by ABC News anchors and correspondents.

Expanding on the previously announced joint events with Univision, Univision anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas will contribute to ABC’s coverage as well.

More information from ABC, after the jump.

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On “Noticiero Univision,” anchor Jorge Ramos followed up on the network’s letter to the Commission on Presidential debates. Univision asked the Commission to add another debate, which could focus on issues important to Latinos in the U.S. The Commission declined.

So Ramos went straight to President Obama and Mitt Romney, and urged them to participate in another debate. Ramos went on to ask viewers to go on social media and use the hashtag #DebateUnivision to urge the candidates top do something.

“The commission answered and said they would not sponsor another debate, therefore Univision network invited President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney to participate in a forum to talk directly to Hispanic voters,” Ramos said.

WATCH below (in Spanish):

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The Presidential Debate Commission has denied Univision’s (admittedly self-serving) request to add an additional debate that would focus on issues important to Hispanic voters. Univision graciously offered the services of anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas to moderate the proposed forum.

Politico has the response from Commission executive director Janet Brown:

[W]e strongly believe that the four journalists we have named see their assignment as representing all Americans in their choice of topics and questions. The general election debates have always focused on issues of national interest that affect all citizens, including Univision’s audience.  We have met with Univision about joint efforts to get the largest number of people possible engaged in discussing and learning from the debates, and remain interested in working with you toward that goal.

Univision CEO Randy Falco has sent a letter to the Commission on Presidential Debates, gently criticizing its decision not to include a Latino moderator in the four debates scheduled, and suggesting an additional “forum”… to be moderated by Univision personalities, of course.

Writes Falco:

The debates announced yesterday presented an ideal opportunity to tap one of the two best journalists in the business who have a broad understanding of the domestic and international issues facing this country, understand the Hispanic community better than anyone else and are fully bilingual: Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas…

Since you have already made your decision on moderators for the debates and have neglected to have someone speak credibly to the concerns of Hispanics in America, Univision would be willing to create a forum for the presidential candidates to address this sector of our society.

Falco’s full letter is embedded after the jump.

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• ABC News, Univision and National Journal will be partnering at the 2012 Republican and Democratic National Conventions on a pair of events called “Next America.” George Stephanopoulos, Diane Sawyer, Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas will moderate a number of panels “engaging leaders on the demographic revolution that is remaking the face of America.”

• NBC News chief digital officer Vivian Schiller talks to Nieman Journalism Lab. “I’m a big believer in test-and-learn model of innovation. We’re trying stuff. We’re trying lots and lots of stuff and you know going in some of it’s going to work, some of it isn’t going to work. Hey, if things don’t work, as long as you figure out quickly and stop doing them. The whole fail-fast philosophy. We want to try a lot of things.”

• A lesson in the perils of RSS feeds: yesterday CNBC had a story on its site for a number of hours touting Lou Dobbs‘ ratings win over Larry Kudlow. CNBC’s website automatically picks up some press releases off of the wire in certain categories, creating article pages. It has since been taking down.

For the second straight year, CBS News led the way in nominations for the 2012 News and Documentary Emmy Awards. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the nominations this morning.

CBS News secured 43 nominations (34 of which were for “60 Minutes”), easily the most of any network. PBS was second with 37 nominations, followed by NBC with 20 and ABC with 17.

Among the cable networks, HBO led the way with 15 nominations, followed by CNN and CNN International, which combined for nine, Discovery Channel and Nat Geo Channel, which each had five, BBC America with three, MSNBC with two, HDNet with two and Al Jazeera English, Bloomberg, CNBC and Current TV, which each had one nomination.

In addition, NATAS says it will present “Noticias Univision” anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas with lifetime achievement Emmys.

Some notes on the nominees: “60 Minutes” alone secured more nominations than NBC, MSNBC and CNN combined. NBC’s “Rock Center” secured a number of nominations, not only for its shiny new set, but also a number of features and interviews, including Bob Costas‘ now infamous interview with former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky. Current TV’s nomination came for “Vanguard,” the critically acclaimed documentary series it is cutting back on to add more political commentary programming.

All the nominees are in the official announcement, below.

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