Maria Elena Salinas Joins CBS News as a Contributor

Maria Elena Salinas is headed to The Eye Network

The 64-year-old Mexican American journalist, a longtime former Univision anchor, is joining CBS News as a contributor.

Maria Elena Salinas

Susan Zirinsky,CBS News President and senior executive producer, said Salinas will deliver reports for multiple broadcasts and platforms and will be a frequent presence in 2020 election coverage.

Salinas, called the “Voice of Hispanic America” by The New York Times, is best known for co-anchoring Univision’s flagship evening news program for more than 30 years. 

She has interviewed world leaders and covered a wide range of national and international events, netting multiple Emmys, a Peabody Awardand many others over the years. 

Since leaving Univision in 2017, she has hosted The Real Story with Maria Elena Salinas on Investigation Discoveryand covered the 2018 presidential election in Mexico for Telemundo.

“It is an honor to welcome Maria Elena Salinas to the CBS News team,” said Zirinsky. “We look forward to sharing her important voice and journalistic credentials with our audience in a critical time for this country.”

In 2016, Salinas reported for CBS Sunday Morningon the role Hispanics would play in that year’s election.

From 2001 to 2011, Salinas wrote a weekly syndicated column in both English and Spanish. She’s also the author of the 2006 autobiography, I Am My Father’s Daughter, Living a Life Without Secrets.

Salinas began her journalism career in 1981 as a reporter, anchor and public affairs host for KMEX-TVUnivision’s LA affiliate.

Olmos Participates in Hispanic Scholarship Fund Campaign Aimed at Getting More Latinos Enrolled in College

Edward James Olmos is telling parents to stand and deliver when it comes to their children and their futures…

This Hispanic Heritage Month, the 67-year-old Mexican American actor is among the Latino celebrities making parents aware of the many resources available to help them send their kids to college.

Edward James Olmos

Olmos recorded a public service announcement (PSA) to encourage Hispanic parents to look into scholarships and planning tools for their children.

The campaign, launched by the Hispanic Scholarship Fund (HSF) and the Ad Council, aims to offer access to the resources Latino parents need to help their children prepare, plan, and pay for college.

Today, Hispanics make up 19 percent of college students from the ages of 18 to 24, a number that is up from 12 percent in 2008, according to the HSF.

The PSA campaign empowers parents to help their children navigate the college application process and access the resources and support needed to excel in their studies and graduate.

According to a 2009 Pew Hispanic Center survey, 88% of Latinos ages 16 and older agreed that a college degree is necessary to get ahead in life today, as compared to only 74% of all Americans ages 16 and older.

Other celebrities filming PSAs include CSI: Miami alum Adam Rodriguez and Univision co-anchors Jorge Ramos and María Elena Salinas.

Ramos & Salinas to Receive Lifetime Achievement Emmy

Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas are two of the most important Latino journalists in the United States… And, now the co-anchors of Noticiero Univision are being honored for their influence.

The 54-year-old Mexican-born Ramos and the 57-year-old Mexican American Salinas will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 33rd Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards.

Jorge Ramos & Maria Elena Salinas

Ramos and Salinas have co-anchored Univision’s popular evening newscast since 1988. It’s the most-watched newscast among U.S. Hispanics and attracts an audience that’s a generation younger than English-language evening news broadcasts.

“The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is delighted to honor Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas, the co-anchors of Univision’s nightly newscast, with our prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award,” NATAS chairman Malachy Wienges said in a statement. “The majority of the U.S. Hispanic population receives the news of the world first and foremost from these two brilliant reporters who continue to be the voice, the conscience and the heart of Hispanic America across the country. We are happy to honor their work which sits amongst the very best news reporting in any language.”

Meanwhile, Ramos and Salinas’ influence could expand to an even larger audience…

Univision and ABC News will partner on an English-language cable news network aimed at acculturated Hispanics early next year with a digital destination set to roll out in time for the presidential election in November. The partnership will increase the visibility of Univision’s on-air personnel. Ramos recently appeared on ABC‘s World News with Diane Sawyer to discuss the Supreme Court ruling on Arizona’s immigration law.

Ramos and Salinas will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Emmy gala on October 1 at Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York City.