Maria Elena Salinas Joins CBS News as a Contributor

Award-winning journalist, anchor and author Maria Elena Salinas is joining CBS News as a contributor, it was announced today by Susan Zirinsky, CBS News President and Senior Executive Producer. Salinas, one of the most recognizable and respected journalists in the country, most notably served as co-anchor of Univison's evening news program for more than 30 years.

Salinas will contribute reports across CBS News broadcasts and platforms and will frequently appear on coverage of the run-up to the 2020 election.

"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 a career that spans nearly four decades, Salinas has interviewed world leaders and covered virtually every major national and international news event of our time. Her work has earned the top awards presented in broadcasting, including multiple Emmys, a Peabody, Gracie Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award and the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism.

Most recently, Salinas was the host of "The Real Story with Maria Elena Salinas," a crime series for Investigation Discovery. She also covered the 2018 presidential election in Mexico for Telemundo.

Salinas contributed to CBS News in 2016, when she reported on the role Hispanics would play in the election for CBS SUNDAY MORNING.

While at Univision, she was co-host of "Noticiero Univision" and co-host of "Aquí y Ahora," a newsmagazine program for Univision.

A versatile and bilingual journalist, Salinas has interviewed every U.S. president since Jimmy Carter. She is at ease interviewing newsmakers such as Manuel Noriega, the former dictator of Panama and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, as she is sitting down with Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin and Gloria Estefan.

She was one of the first female journalists in wartime Baghdad. Salinas participated in the 2004 bilingual debate on Hispanic issues and in 2007 co-hosted the first Democratic and Republican presidential candidate forums in Spanish for Univision.

From 2001-2011, Salinas wrote a weekly Syndicated column in both English and Spanish. She is 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-TV, Univision's affiliate in Los Angeles.

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