León Krauze, during the Univisión coverage in Acapulco on October 27, in an image from his social networks.
The journalist León Krauze is leaving TelevisaUnivision. The departure of one of the company’s star anchors, one of the leaders of the Hispanic audience in the United States, coincides with the controversy sparked by the network’s interview with Donald Trump. The conversation with the former president aired on November 9 and was criticized for its treatment of a politician who is trying to return to the White House in 2024 and who launched his first presidential campaign with an anti-Latino and Mexican-American message. The company confirmed the exit without giving reasons and sent Krauze its “best wishes” for his future projects.
“TelevisaUnivision sincerely thanks Leon Krauze for his outstanding contributions, experience and in-depth analysis throughout his career in our news division,” the company said in a statement shared with this newspaper. The television network recognized the journalist’s efforts to “empower and inform” Hispanic communities in the United States over more than a decade.
“My commitment will always be to give a voice to those who don’t have one,” Krauze told EL PAÍS. The journalist thanked his colleagues at the company in both Los Angeles and Miami, as well as his professional colleagues. He did not explain the reasons that led to his departure.
Krauze, the eldest son of Mexican historians Enrique Krauze and Isabel Turrent, arrived in Miami, the network’s stronghold in the USA, in January 2022. He did this to occupy the seat of the main news program Noticiero Univision Night Edition alongside the famous presenter Patricia Janiot. Previously, Krauze had spent a decade out West, at Channel 34, the company’s primary station in Los Angeles and head of local news in the California city. Krauze has won nine Emmy Awards.
Before moving to the United States, Krauze was the main anchor at Foro TV, one of Televisa’s efforts to expand its 24-hour local coverage. He has also contributed to other media outlets such as The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, Newsweek, Foreign Affairs and EL PAÍS.
One of the media companies with which he regularly collaborates, the Washington Post, published this Tuesday information claiming that Univision had changed its editorial line regarding Trump. It is not the only media that confirms this. Semafor claims that three executives at the television network, including CEO Wade Davis, were at Mar-a-Lago during Trump’s interview with Televisa senior journalist Enrique Acevedo. The other two executives who visited Trump’s opulent residence were Alfonso de Angoitia and Bernardo Gómez, the co-CEOs of TelevisaUnivision, companies that merged in a $4.8 billion company in January last year. Gómez, one of the most powerful men in Mexican media, has a friendly relationship with Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the former president of the United States.
The American press criticized Acevedo’s interview. The conversation began with the tone of criticism of the power that another face of the network, Jorge Ramos, had built in the Trump administration. The conversation began with a question about polls, one from the New York Times, that claim the former president enjoys 42% support in the Latino community. Some support in key states that could bring the Republican back to the presidency in 2024. “We have tremendous support among the population, I call it Hispanic, Latino, they have different terms,” the former president said.
Some analysts believe the speech, in which there was not a single question, was too gentle on the former president, who has promised to return a strong hand to Washington in an eventual second term. Media company Puck, which specializes in information about the entertainment and communications industry, says the interview raised alarm bells at Univision as the company tries to move the network closer to the controversial candidate. According to this portal, the company canceled ads commissioned by the Biden campaign to counter the Republican presidential candidate’s statements.
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