FIRST OFF . . .

KVEA Channel 52, Los Angeles’ No. 2 Spanish-language TV station, and its parent Telemundo network were caught in the pincers of Latino community criticism Wednesday for their hiring and programming practices. The National Hispanic Media Coalition met in East Los Angeles with Henry Silverman, president and chief executive officer of the Telemundo Group, and presented him with a dozen proposals for increasing Latino participation in station and network senior management. Coalition chairman Armando Duron said that his organization also asked Telemundo to recruit three Latinos for the board of directors within one year and increase its local involvement by donating $50,000 a year to Latino community groups. Silverman, meeting with the group for the first time, characterized the session as constructive and agreed to respond to the proposals by Aug. 14.