Jorge Ramos
Mexican-American
Journalist + Author
Website: jorgeramos.com
Instagram: @jorgeramosnews
Born in Mexico City, Mexico, Jorge Ramos was raised in the Bosques de Echegaray neighborhood of Naucalpan, a suburb of Mexico City.
Similar to many other foreign parents, Jorge’s father wanted him to become an architect, lawyer, doctor or engineer. But going against his father’s wishes, Jorge made the decision to major in communications when he attended Ibero-American University in Mexico City. He worked for a radio station in college, and switched to television after he graduated; working for Mexico’s largest media conglomerate, Televisa, as a news writer and on-air reporter. But by the age of 24 (in 1983), he resigned in protest after a story he produced was censored. The production was centered on interviews with people who were critical of Mexico’s government.
Within one year, Jorge sold his Volkswagen beetle and bought a plane ticket to the U.S. and arrived in Los Angeles, California under a student visa, and with hardly any money in his pocket. He was determined to start television and journalism extension courses at UCLA, and worked as a waiter and at a movie house part-time to pay bills. At 25, he landed his first full-time job and first journalism job in America as a reporter at KMEX, which was owned by the Spanish international network, now rebranded as Univision – the largest Spanish-language television network in the U.S.
Two years later (1986), he moved to Miami to host the morning program, Mundo Latino, at WLTV (an affiliate of Univision). Around this time, Univision had just launched Noticiero Univision, its first national newscast. But “…the staff of the national newscast resigned en masse to protest the hiring of a famous Mexican news anchor named Jacobo Zabludovsky who was known for his close ties to the Mexican government.” Not only did Jacobo end up returning to Mexico, but the station was desperately in need of an evening news anchor to fill the new vacancy. Jorge found himself ‘at the right place, at the right time’ because he got the job at just 28 years old – becoming “…one of the youngest national news anchors in the history of American television.”
In addition to co-anchoring Noticiero Univision since 1986, he found the time to earn his master’s degree in international studies from the University of Miami. But of course, it didn't end there. Jorge is also the anchor on Univision’s Sunday-morning political news program, Al Punto, and an English-language news program geared towards young adults on Fusion TV called America with Jorge. He has interviewed over 60 presidents from North to South America. And has covered many significant stories, including: the fall of the Berlin Wall, five wars (El Salvador, the Persian Gulf, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq), 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, presidential elections and immigration reform. Overall, Jorge is regarded as the most influential Hispanic journalist in the U.S.
For the past 30 years, Jorge’s achievements include eight Emmy Awards for excellence in journalism, a Peabody Award, authoring ten books and bestsellers, and a slew of journalism awards. In addition, he was named one of The World’s 100 Most Influential People (2010) and The 25 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States, both by Time Magazine; one of The 10 Most Admired Latinos by Latino Leaders Magazine, and received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Richmond (2007).
Interesting fact: “Ramos has been instrumental in promoting literacy among Latinos. In 2002 he created the first book club in the history of Hispanic television: "Despierta Leyendo" (wake up reading).”
Sources: The New Yorker, jorgeramos.com, and The NY Times