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María Elena Salinas

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María Elena Salinas
Salinas on the Valder Beebe Show in 2017
Born (1954-12-30) December 30, 1954 (age 69)
Los Angeles, California
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Awards2017 NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame[1]

María Elena Salinas (born December 30, 1954), is an American broadcast journalist, news anchor, and author. Called the "Voice of Hispanic America" by The New York Times, Salinas is one of the most recognized Hispanic female journalists in the United States.[citation needed] She was the co-anchor of Noticiero Univision, the primary evening news broadcast on Univision, and the co-host of the news magazine program Aquí y Ahora (Here and Now).

Salinas has been working for more than three decades in the U.S. and in 18 Latin American countries.[2] She has interviewed Latin American heads of state, rebel leaders, dictators, and every United States president since Jimmy Carter.

Journalism career

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Salinas interviews United States Secretary of State John Kerry in 2015

Salinas began as a reporter, anchor and public-affairs host for KMEX-TV, the Univision affiliate in Los Angeles, in 1981. She became the anchor of the national Spanish-language news program Noticiero Univision in 1987.

She has interviewed figures such as former US Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama; Manuel Noriega, the former military dictator of Panama; Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega; and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation spokesman Subcomandante Marcos. She has also interviewed celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez,[3] Ricky Martin and Gloria Estefan.

Salinas was among the first female journalists in wartime Baghdad.[further explanation needed] She herself has been interviewed by Katie Couric[4] Bill Moyers,[5] and others.

Salinas participated in the bilingual national Democratic presidential candidate debate on Hispanic issues in 2004, and again in 2007 co-hosting the first Democratic and Republican presidential candidate forums in Spanish on the Univision Network.

For ten years from 2001-2011, she wrote a weekly syndicated column in English and Spanish.[6] In 2017–18, she hosted two seasons of the English-language crime program The Real Story with María Elena Salinas, on Investigation Discovery.

On August 3, 2017, Univision announced that Salinas would be leaving her post as co-anchor of Noticiero Univisión at the end of 2017. In a Facebook post, Salinas said she plans to become an independent news producer and that she was not pushed out.[7]

On July 1, 2018, she participated in Telemundo's Mexican presidential elections coverage and on December 1, exactly five months later, she was part of Telemundo's news team covering the Mexican presidential inauguration from Mexico City.

On July 22, 2019, CBS News announced Maria Elena Salinas would be joining as a contributor.[8] María Elena Salinas joined "CBS This Morning" to break down the diverse Latino communities across the U.S. that were long held as a single voting bloc, but economic, geographic and cultural differences show stark divides in how Latino Americans have cast their ballots in the 2020 United States presidential election.

In March 2022, Maria Elena Salinas became a contributor for ABC News [9]

Public service and philanthropy

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For almost twenty years Salinas has volunteered for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, which encourages immigrants to vote and otherwise participate in politics; she is the spokesperson for its Ya Es Hora ("It's Time") program.

Salinas is a founder of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2006. She also sponsors the Maria Elena Salinas Scholarship for college students interested in Spanish news broadcasting.

She is on the boards of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund[10] and the International Women's Media Foundation.[11]

Awards and recognition

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Salinas has won numerous awards and distinctions for both her journalism and philanthropic work.

Salinas won a 2014 Peabody Award,[12] Walter Cronkite Award and Gracie Award for her news and documentary special "Entre el abandono y el rechazo" (Between Abandonment and Rejection), a prime-time report on the exodus of Central American children to the United States, which judges praised as "balanced and revealing."[13][14][15][16]

In 2014, she won the Broadcast Legend Award from the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California.[17] In 2012, with her co-anchor Jorge Ramos, she received an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.[18] In 2013, Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News presented Salinas with the Award for Outstanding Achievement at the 11th Annual Hispanic Television Summit, produced by Schramm Marketing Group.[19] Earlier in her career, Salinas was part of the Univision News team that received the Edward R. Murrow Award for the network's coverage of the Atlanta Olympic Park bombings in 1996.

For her philanthropic work, Salinas is a recipient of the Intrepid Award from the National Organization for Women, and has been honored by organizations including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, among others.

In 2017, Salinas was a commencement speaker at American University[20] and California State University, Fullerton[21] and received an honorary doctorate from American University. She was presented with the Leading Ladies of Entertainment accolade by the Latin Recording Academy in 2020.[22]

Personal life

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Salinas's parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico in the 1940s. She was born in Los Angeles in 1954.[23] As a child, she lived in Mexico for 7 years. Since 1991, Salinas has lived in Miami with her 2 daughters, Julia Alexandra and Gabriela Maria.

Salinas's autobiography, Yo Soy la Hija de mi Padre (I Am my Father's Daughter, 2006) covers her discovery that her father had once been a Catholic priest.[24][25]

References

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  1. ^ "Univision's Salinas Wins PEABODY Award". April 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
  2. ^ "Univision | Shows, Entretenimiento, Noticias, Deportes y Novelas". Univision. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Jennifer López habla con María Elena Salinas on 'Aqui y Ahora'". YouTube. November 12, 2014. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12.
  4. ^ "Maria Elena Salinas of Univision appears on KATIE". YouTube. February 8, 2013. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12.
  5. ^ "Bill Moyers' The Rise of Hispanic America". October 4, 2012.
  6. ^ "Salinas ends syndicated column". February 1, 2011.
  7. ^ "Univision anchor Maria Elena Salinas leaving nightly newscast | Miami Herald". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2017-08-05.
  8. ^ Steinberg, Brian (2019-07-22). "CBS News Names Maria Elena Salinas Contributor". Variety. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  9. ^ "Legendary Spanish Language News Anchor María Elena Salinas Jumps to ABC News". www.adweek.com. 30 March 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  10. ^ "Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Salinas, Board Member Bio". Archived from the original on 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
  11. ^ "Board and Staff". www.iwmf.org. Retrieved October 13, 2013.
  12. ^ "Entre el Abandono y el Rechazo (Between Abandonment and Rejection)". Retrieved 2016-06-30.
  13. ^ "Salinas Receives Broadcast Legend Award". January 2015.
  14. ^ "Univision's Salinas Wins Gracies Award for Special News Documentary". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
  15. ^ "Maria Elena Salinas receives prestigious 2015 Peabody Award for hard-hitting news & documentary special, 'Entre el abandono y el rechazo' (Between Abandonment and Rejection)". Archived from the original on 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
  16. ^ "Univision Wins Cronkite Investigative Awards, 'Adweek". March 11, 2015.
  17. ^ "Salinas Receives 2014 Broadcast Legend Award from the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California". 2015.
  18. ^ "Univision's Award-Winning Journalists Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas Honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences". Reuters. Oct 2, 2012. Archived from the original on August 26, 2014.
  19. ^ Staff, M. C. N. (4 October 2013). "Hispanic Television Summit: Salinas: An Impassioned Advocate". Multichannel. Retrieved 2019-11-21.
  20. ^ "AU Announces Spring 2016 Commencement Speakers | American University Washington DC". www.american.edu. 19 April 2016. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
  21. ^ "CSUF News Center - Opera Star and Univision News Anchor to Address Cal State Fullerton Class of 2016". news.fullerton.edu. 15 March 2016. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
  22. ^ "Leading Ladies of Entertainment". Latin Recording Academy. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  23. ^ Allocca, Kevin (October 28, 2009). "SO WHAT DO YOU DO, MARÍA ELENA SALINAS, UNIVISION NETWORK NEWS ANCHOR?". Mediabistro.com. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
  24. ^ "Maria Elena Salinas". mariaesalinas.com. Archived from the original on 30 March 2010. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
  25. ^ "I am my Father's Daughter: Living a Life without Secrets". April 3, 2007.
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