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Maria Elena Salinas, Emmy-award winning anchor of the highly
rated Noticiero UNIVISION, is the most recognized Hispanic female journalist in
the United States. For more than 20 years, Salinas has handled some of the most
challenging assignments in modern day journalism and reached an audience of
millions of Hispanics across the United States and 18 Latin American countries.
Salinas began her journalistic career as a reporter for
KMEX-34 television in Los Angeles in 1981. Her insightful reporting on the
impact of daily news to the increasingly growing Hispanic community of Southern
California quickly earned her the credibility that would lead to her assuming
the anchor chair of Noticiero Univisión in 1987.
Throughout the years, Salinas interviewed more world
leaders, dictators and political figures than any other female journalist. She
has interviewed nearly every U.S. President since Jimmy Carter and covered a
dozen trips by Pope John Paul II including the historic papal visit to Cuba in
2002. Her list of groundbreaking reports include exclusive interviews with
Mexican Presidents Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Ernesto Zedillo and Vicente Fox;
Carlos Ménem of Argentina, Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, Panamanian strongman
Manuel Noriega, Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, Violeta Chamorro and Enrique
Bolaños; Colombia’s Cesar Gaviria, Andres Pastrana and Alvaro Uribe; Peru’s
Alberto Fujimori and Alejandro Toledo, as well as other prominent political
figures of the past two decades, such as the enigmatic Mexican rebel leader
Sub-Comandante Marcos.
Salinas has reported from the White House to the Kremlin,
from the O.J. Simpson trial in Los Angeles to the funeral of Princess Diana in
London, and from earthquake-ravaged El Salvador to the war torn streets of
Baghdad.
Salinas’ work has earned her several journalistic awards.
Her coverage of Hurricane Mitch helped win Univisión a national Emmy Award in
2000, the first time a Spanish-language network has received that coveted
prize. She also earned an Emmy Award for a network broadcast town hall meeting
she moderated with Mexican President Vicente Fox in Los Angeles and was part of
the Univisión news team that received the Edward R. Murrow Award for the
network’s coverage of the Atlanta Olympic Park bombings.
In addition to position as network anchor, Salinas co-hosts
the prime-time television news magazine “Aqui y Ahora.” She is a radio
commentator and one of the few Hispanic syndicated columnists in the United
States. Her weekly column on U.S. Hispanic issues and Latin America is
distributed by King Features Syndicates in both Spanish and English to more
than 45 daily newspapers in the country. Salinas also writes a weekly column on
Hispanic issues for www.univision.com
Salinas is also a tireless advocate for Hispanics in the
United States. Her in-depth coverage of immigration reform has drawn accolades
from government leaders and immigration advocates. She recently worked with the
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) on
extensive voter registration and outreach efforts and became part of the
Digital Heroes a web-based youth mentoring program. On radio, she spearheaded a
national campaign to motivate Hispanic students to stay in school. She has
worked with the U.S. Departments of Health and Education on issues ranging from
the importance of immunization for young children, to the risks of heart
disease and parental involvement in education. Her commitment to education led
her to establish the “Maria Elena Salinas Scholarship for Excellence in
Spanish-language News” which is administered by the National Association of
Hispanic Journalists and which awards two $5,000 scholarships to promising
journalism students.
For her influential work in the field of journalism on both
a national and international level, Salinas was Named “Journalist of the Year”
by Hispanic Media 100 and was recently awarded the first International Scholar
award from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School which also named her a
distinguished Dean’s Speaker. Other recognition has come in the form the
“Striving for Excellence Award” and a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the
Broadcasting Training Program; the “Superior Achievement Award” from the
National Association of Hispanic Publications, a “Lifetime Achievement Award”
from the California Chicano News Media Association, and “The Gift of Hope
Award” from the Women’s Hope Fund.
Salinas has also been featured on the cover of Hispanic
Magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential Hispanics” in the United
States, and was named one of the top 15 Most Influential Hispanics among Latino
voters in a poll conducted by Hispanic Voter Trends. Her work has also been
recognized by the National Hispanic Media Coalition.
Salinas is a former vice president and founding member of
the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and has been a featured
speaker at media and women’s conferences throughout the country.
Born in Los Angeles to Mexican immigrant parents, Salinas
resides in Coral Gables, Florida, with her husband Eliott Rodriguez, a news
anchor for WFOR-TV (CBS 4) in Miami. They have two daughters, Julia Alexandra
and Gabriela Maria.
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Please contact Emma Carrasco at 305 673 8793 or
ejcarrasco@yahoo.com for further
information.
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