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Introducing her book
"I am my father's daughter"
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| Written by Carmen Teresa Roiz (Vista Magazine) |
| Monday, May 08 2006 |
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What makes María Elena Salinas endure as one of the top Hispanic journalists in the country? “There’s a tremendous responsibility being the voice and image of the Hispanic community. I call it responsibility because so many people depend on us for basic information about their rights as immigrants,” she said. “It’s up to us to let them know about the laws that may affect them, and those that may benefit them. We try to do just that in an objective way, bearing in mind that our people have needs that lie beyond the needs of the rest of the country.” Emmy-award winning Salinas is co-anchor of the highly rated Noticiero Univision, appearing alongside Jorge Ramos. She is one of the most recognized Hispanic female journalists in the United States. For the past 25 years she has handled some of the most challenging assignments in modern day journalism, reaching millions of Hispanics in the United States and 18 Latin American countries. Furthermore, she has been able to report the evolution of the Hispanic community. “I have witnessed how we have changed and grown. When I started in 1981, there were 14 million Hispanics living in the United States, with minimal political representation Now, we’re 40 million and every day we have more impact, look at the half a million people immigration-march inspired by Hispanic radio in Los Angeles recently. Today, I look at our growth with pride and satisfaction,” added Salinas.
 Born in Los Angeles to Mexican immigrant parents, she rose from humble beginnings to an insightful professional reporter for KMEX-34 Television in Los Angeles. Quickly, she earned the credibility that would lead her to assume the anchor chair of Noticiero Univision in 1987. “I started working when I was 14 to help my parents to pay the rent. Then I studied at the university for two years, but I didn’t graduate. Throughout my career I have learned that the most important thing is to have integrity and objectivity. The most important thing for a journalist is to be believed, to be trusted. That’s the only way you earned the respect of the public. You have to be responsible to teach people how to think, not what to think. You tell them to go out and vote, not for whom should they vote,” she explained.
Throughout the years, Salinas has interviewed more world leaders, dictators, and political figures than most journalists. Her list of groundbreaking reports include exclusive interviews with Mexican presidents Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Ernesto Zedillo and Vicente Fox; Argentina’s Carlos Menem, Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and the enigmatic figure of Mexican rebel Sub Comandante Marcos, among many others. “It’s interesting, when you talk to these people you realize that they are human beings, just like you and me, and that they are doing their work, just like I’m doing mine,” said Salinas. “Yet, those who have impacted me the most are the normal, every day people, silent victims of government repression who very seldom are allowed to tell their story.”
 In addition to her position as network anchor, Salinas co-hosts the prime-time television news magazine “Aquí y Ahora.” Also, she writes a weekly column on U.S. Hispanic issues that is published nationwide in more than 55 daily newspapers in the country, and has earned many prestigious journalistic awards. Now, after years of inner struggle, Salinas wrote the book, “Yo soy la hija de mi padre: Una vida sin secretos,” in which she bares her soul. “I didn’t know whether I had the right to reveal my family secrets, there’s nothing more intimate than that. I didn’t want to have my father treated negatively due to the fact that he abandoned the Catholic Church, and that because of his pacifists convictions refused to go to World War II. In this book, I discuss that close relationship that exists between father and daughter. Everything is there: my career, professional anecdotes, my social conscience and political ideas, and how the past influences the person I am today. Now I realize that I always wanted to take after my mother and ended up being like my father.”
Today, María Elena Salinas has her own family and her own story. She is married to Eliott Rodríguez, news anchor for WFOR-TV (CBS 4) in Miami and lives in South Florida with their four daughters (above): Julia, 11, Gaby, 9, Bianca 17 and Erica 22 (the oldest two are from Rodriguez’s previous marriage). “I consider that the four of them are my daughters. And they love each other very much,” she said. “Being a mother is the most important thing for me. It’s also the most difficult. No matter how I try to rationalize it, I tend to feel guilty for not being able to spend more time with them. I say to myself that because of my work I’m able to provide a better life, better opportunities for their future. That’s why when I’m with them I try to give them all of me. The best I can do is to give them love, to hug them and kiss them every time I can, and to remind them constantly how much I love them,” she said. “Also, it’s important for them to know that if I scold them, it doesn’t mean that I love them less. I want them to know that I’ll always be there for them, for anything they need, that I’ll be their mother, always. That’s why, every time I leave on a trip ––and just in case––I tell them: ‘Keep me in your hearts... manténme en tu corazón.’ ” |
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