Gemma Garcia Named Executive Vice President of News at Telemundo

Gemma Garcia is making news of her own…

The Latina television executive is returning to Telemundo to lead the Noticias Telemundo news division.

Gemma GarciaShe will succeed Patsy Loris, who departed in January as executive vice president of news.

Garcia will oversee news programming, editorial units, digital news properties, newsgathering and bureaus in the United States and Latin America.

Garcia will report to Luis Fernandez, chairman of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.

Garcia most recently was the head of news at RTVE Play, an OTT service of Spain’s public media company Radio Television Espanola. She previously had several different news leadership positions at Telemundo, including as senior vice president of digital news. She also helped develop and launch initiatives like Planeta Tierra, an environmental reporting unit, and the Axios Latino newsletter.

In a statement, Garcia said that “as we approach historic presidential elections in both the United States and Mexico, I look forward to working with the best team of news professionals in Spanish language television to continue to give Latinos a voice and provide them with all the news and resources they need to make well-informed decisions.”

Fernandez said Garcia “brings impeccable news judgment, invaluable experience as an innovative news leader and an unwavering commitment to delivering the highest quality journalism to the Latino community.”

Cecilia Suarez to Narrate Telemundo & The Story Lab’s New Podcast “Fort Hood,” Spotlighting the Case of Slain Army Soldier Vanessa Guillén

Cecilia Suarez is helping shine a light on the case of slain Army soldier Vanessa Guillén.

The 49-year-old Mexican actress and prominent activist will narrate Telemundo and The Story Lab’s new podcast Fort Hooda seven-part limited series that launched this week.

Cecilia Suarez,

The podcast, narrated in English and Spanish by  Suarez, takes a probing look at the 20-year-old’s April 2020 murder at the hands of fellow Fort Hood soldier Aaron David Robinson.

All episodes are about 30 minutes in length and are now available.

Guillen’s case drew nationwide attention, with her family, public officials, lawmakers and celebrities demanding #JusticeForVanessaGuillen.Vanessa Guillen

After disappearing from the base, Guillén’s remains were found two months later. Investigators say she was killed by Robinson, who later fatally shot himself as police tried to take him into custody.

Guillén’s family has raised allegations she was sexually harassed before she was killed.

In July, Robinson’s girlfriend Cecily Aguilar was indicted on 11 counts by a federal grand jury as an accessory for allegedly helping Robinson destroy and bury Guillén’s remains.

Fort Hood will also explore the role of the military in the investigation, which has been heavily criticized. It also delves into the case revealing a deeper, more complex story about a renowned U.S. military base with a long record of unreported sexual abuse, and highlights Guillén’s family, which refused to stay quiet as they pushed authorities for answers.

“This is a consequential story that touches on critical issues in our country,” Telemundo Network News president Luis Fernandez said. “It’s a revealing exposé and a necessary investigation. Noticias Telemundo, with The Story Lab, believe this important story deserved a deeper examination and this format allows us to do just that.”

José Díaz-Balart to Anchor New Morning Program on MSNBC

José Díaz-Balart is switching things up…

The 60-year-old Cuban-American journalist and television anchorman will host a new 10:00 AM ET show on MSNBC, with Hallie Jackson taking over an anchor slot later in the day at 3:00 PM ET.

José Díaz-Balart

Díaz-Balart will end his role as anchor of Telemundo’s nightly newscast Noticias Telemundo at the end of the month, but will still anchor monthly specials and breaking news events.

José Díaz-Balart Reports will premiere on September 27.

Díaz-Balart will continue to anchor NBC Nightly News Saturday

When he began anchoring that newscast, he became the first journalist to anchor two different evening newscasts on separate broadcast networks in English and Spanish.

He’s won four Emmy awards, the George Foster Peabody Award and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award.

“I look forward to this unique role where I can reach different audiences in English and Spanish across the NBCUniversal News Group,” he said in a statement.

Díaz-Balart previously served as an anchor on MSNBC from 2014 to 2016. He joined Noticias Telemundo in 2000, anchoring programs including Esta Mañana, Cada Día, and Enfoque con José Díaz-BalartHe took over as the main anchor for Noticias Telemundo in 2009.

A priority of MSNBC President Rashida Jones has been to more clearly distinguish between the dayside news programming and the nighttime “perspective” shows.

The network also noted that the addition of Díaz-Balart is part of NBCUniversal News Group efforts to bring in more diverse voices, as the division chairman Cesar Conde has set a goal of 50% of the workforce to people of color and 50% to be women. NBC News and MSNBC have nine Latino anchors across broadcast, cable and streaming.

Arantxa Loizaga to Co-Host Telemundo’s Revamped Morning Show “Hoy Dia,” Launching Monday

A new day has come for Arantxa Loizaga

The Latina broadcast journalist will host Telemundo’s revamped morning show Hoy Dia, which launches on Monday.

Arantxa Loizaga

Telemundo is promising Spanish-language viewers a newsier format in the a.m. hours, with the three-hour morning show replacing Un Nuevo Día.

In addition to Loizaga, the new show will feature Nacho Lozano and Nicole Suarez as its new group of hosts.

“Telemundo understands the big responsibility of informing our community, and that’s why Telemundo decided to just have a facelift, to do a makeover of the morning show,” Loizaga said in an interview.

Citing the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Latinos as well as the impact of the community in the 2020 presidential results, she said, “we understand the importance of being informed, to have all of the resources that they require to make the right decisions for themselves and their families.”

She described the show as akin to NBC’s Today but “in Spanish with a Latin flair.”

The first 90-minutes will feature headlines, newsmaker interviews and “news you can use,” presented in a less-structured way and in a “creative and engaging format,” she said. The second half of the show will feature entertainment, lifestyle and weather, with Adamari Lopez and Stephanie Himonidis as entertainment hosts. Alfredo Oropeza will be executive chef and Carlos Robles will be chief meteorologist.

Lozano said that while he would like to say that the show will “empower” the Latino community, “They are already empowered.”

“So we are going to provide the information, the argument to participate, and to of course recognize the power they have already,” he said.

He also said that the show would recognize the diversity within the Latino community.

“In order to empower them we need to talk about them, with our work, with our culture, with our accent,” Lozano said.

In the aftermath of the 2020 election, pundits zeroed in on the differences in the Hispanic vote, with Donald Trump doing better than expected in Florida and Joe Biden surprising by winning Arizona.

“The thing is that we understand, and our politicians understand after this 2020 electoral cycle, that the Latino community, we are not a monolith. Not all of the people who speak Spanish are Mexican, right? That is a very important distinction that we want to make,” Loizaga said.

She added, “Even if we all speak Spanish, we all have different cultures, and at Telemundo we recognize that. So for instance, for the Latino community living in the border cities, we understand that maybe immigration is the top priority, and we are going to be able to cater to them. Maybe up north in agricultural states like Wisconsin or Iowa or Illinois, we know that their priorities are conditions of life, working for these meat processing plants and the virus. …So we may be able to provide to them more information about the advantages of receiving the vaccine or their rights that they have as employees.”

Loizaga said that the three news anchors also will bring different personalities to the show. She recently anchored Univision’s national weekend newscast, and has been living in the U.S. for the past 17 years after emigrating from Mexico. Lozano was a news anchor and radio and TV host at Grupo Imagen in Mexico, and “is very jovial and really funny,” she said. Suarez is news correspondent for Noticias Telemundoand was born in the U.S. and raised in Chicago.

“With all of these three different approaches, we will be able to provide something unique,” she said.

As Spanish-language morning shows have been primarily focused on entertainment in the past few decades, Loizaga said, Hoy Dia will stand out.

“We realized there was a need for more information and accurate information and unbiased information as well, and this is what we are going to be able to provide to them,” she said.

Univision’s Jorge Ramos to Appear on “Noticias Telemundo”

Jorge Ramos is invading his competitor…

The 59-year-old Mexican-born American journalist and Univision’s chief news anchor is making an unexpected stop during the media tour to promote his new book: Telemundo’s nightly newscast.

Jorge Ramos

Ramos, the longtime face of Univision News, will be featured on the March 12 edition of Noticias Telemundo in a conversation with Telemundo’s chief anchor, Jose Diaz-Balart, to promote Ramos’ book Stranger: The Challenge of a Latino Immigrant in the Trump Era.

The segment was taped at a bookstore in Coral Gables, Florida.

The pair discuss the state of Latino communities in the U.S., the Donald Trump presidency, activism, and journalism as well as the book.

The meeting of the rival anchors is a first for a program to air either of the two TV networks that dominate the Spanish-language market in the U.S.

“This Noticias Telemundo initiative strengthens our shared commitment to the Latino community at a time when journalism has become of vital importance for us,” Díaz-Balart said.

Univision and Telemundo have maintained a fierce rivalry that has often forced actors and producers to pick sides when it comes to finding work — more so than the mainstream English-language outlets. That makes the sit-down between Diaz-Balart and Ramos that much more significant. It reflects the sense of crisis among many in the Latino community given the Trump administration’s agenda on immigration and other issues.

“This is the first time we are doing this. We’ve owed it to each other for the last 30 years,” Ramos said.

Ramos famously challenged then-candidate Donald Trump during the early weeks of his presidential campaign in 2015 after Trump asserted in a speech that undocumented immigrants coming into the U.S. from Mexico were mostly criminals and rapists.