News Anchor Leaves Univision

Spanish-language broadcasting in the U.S. is losing one of its most prominent figures as Maria Elena Salinas retires from Univision News after more than three decades of blending the role of anchor and advocate.

Salinas, who hosts the main news broadcast on Univision with co-anchor Jorge Ramos, has been weighing her departure for several years and says the time is right to pursue independent projects, including some in English.

“It’s time to go find other audiences,” the 62-year-old anchor said in an interview with the Associated Press last week at the Univision studios outside Miami.

Her departure comes at a difficult time for many immigrants who view the nightly program as a lifeline for understanding current events. Some advocates say immigrants will lose an important voice when Salinas steps down this Friday.

From the anchor desk at Univision, Salinas and Ramos have a big audience that makes them among the most-watched television journalists in the U.S. in any language, with their reach expanding dramatically in recent years as the Hispanic population has grown across the country. But their core viewership is still made up of immigrants and first-generation Americans who primarily speak Spanish and have remained loyal to the network for years.