CBS News hires Univision veteran Maria Elena Salinas

Former Univision anchor Maria Elena Salinas is joining CBS News as a contributor.

Salinas, a native of Los Angeles, is one of the most widely respected journalists in Spanish-language media. She spent more than 35 years at Univision, earning the distinction as one of the longest-serving female anchors of a national newscast. She co-anchored “Noticiero Univision” from Miami with Jorge Ramos for three decades but Salinas left the Spanish-language news giant at the end of 2017.

She was known for her steady and authoritative on-air presence, which resulted in her involvement in many high-profile stories. Salinas has interviewed every U.S. president since Jimmy Carter, and numerous foreign dictators, and covered natural disasters and the war in Iraq as a reporter embedded with the U.S. military.

CBS News is tapping the award-winning reporter to contribute reports across CBS News broadcasts and platforms. CBS News President and Senior Executive Producer Susan Zirinsky on Monday announced the addition of Salinas to her news team. Salinas, who contributed reports to CBS News in 2016, is expected to participate in the network’s coverage of the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.

“It is an honor to welcome Maria Elena Salinas to the CBS News team,” Zirinsky said in a statement. “We look forward to sharing her important voice and journalistic credentials with our audience in a critical time for this country.”

For the past year, Salinas was 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 Univision’s chief competitor, Telemundo.

Salinas began her career at KMEX-TV Channel 34, Univision’s affiliate in Los Angeles. She was eventually paired with Ramos, another KMEX veteran. After years of turmoil, Univision’s owners are looking to sell the Spanish-language broadcaster.