Peabody award-winning anchor, María Elena Salinas (born December 30, 1954), who is described as the “Voice of Hispanic America” by the New York Times is one of the most recognized and influential journalists in the United States.

Salinas began her journalistic career in television as a reporter, anchor and public affairs host for KMEX-34 in 1981. Her insightful reporting on the impact of daily news to the increasingly growing Hispanic community in Southern California quickly earned her the credibility that would lead to her assume the anchor chair 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, Ricky Martin and Gloria Estefan.

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. She was recently recognized for her work by the National Association of Broadcaster’s and inducted into their Hall of Fame. 

Salinas was recently recognized for her work by the National Association of Broadcaster's and inducted into their Hall of Fame. This September, she will be honored as “Journalist of the Year” by the “Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA) ¡BRAVO!

In 2016 Salinas was awarded 2 honorary doctorate degrees from American University School of Communications and California State University, Fullerton. She also was honored with the Mickey Leland Humanitarian award.

In 2015 she received a Peabody Award, Walter Cronkite Award, an Emmy and a 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 have praised as "balanced and revealing”.

Additionally, she is the recipient of the 2014 Broadcast Legend Award from the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California. In 2012, she became the first Latina to receive an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 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.

On Aug.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.

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. 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 Anchor María Elena Salinas Jumps to ABC New.

 Focused on her mission to empower the Latino community, for nearly two decades Salinas has worked as a spokesperson with NALEO, the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, encouraging immigrants to become citizens, register to vote and participate in the political process. The program has grown to become a Peabody award-winning initiative entitled “Ya Es Hora” (It’s Time). For these efforts and more, Salinas is a recipient of the coveted Intrepid Award from NOW, 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.

Sources: