John Quiñones Named Gold Circle Inductee by National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences

It’s the golden hour for John Quiñones

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences will celebrate its 2023 Gold and Silver Circle Inductees at the 44th Annual News & Documentary Awards on September 27-28 in New York, with the 71-year-old Mexican-American broadcast journalist and news correspondent among the honorees.

John QuiñonesThe Gold and Silver Circle is a society of honor. Inductees are professionals who have performed distinguished service within the television industry, setting standards for achievement, mentoring, leadership and professional accolades for 50 or 25 years.

Quiñones, an ABC News correspondent who hosts What Would You Do?, is among the Gold Circle inductees, alongside David Martin of CBS News and journalist Dan Rather.

Active in the industry since 1975, Quiñones is a seven-time Emmy Award winner, a George Foster Peabody Award winner and a recipient of the National Hispanic Media Coalition‘s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Meanwhile, Otto Padron has been named a Silver Circle inductee.

Padron is the president & CEO of Meruelo Media, one of the fastest growing minority-owned media companies in California. Padron’s mass media experience, leadership skills and vision were key in the reorganization and expansion of Meruelo Media in 2012. Today, Meruelo Media stands as one of the most diverse media companies in the Nation with four key broadcast properties in Los Angeles.

Before joining the Meruelo Media team, Padron was the Senior Vice President of Programming for Univision Television Network, the leading Spanish language network in the U.S. He is the only executive to have successfully headed programming for both major US Spanish language networks, Univision and Telemundo.

Other Silver Circle inductees are Steve Fastook, Senior Vice President of Operations, CNBC; Kim Godwin, President, ABC News; Rand Morrison, Executive Producer, CBS News Sunday Morning, CBS News; Steve Osunsami, Senior National Correspondent, ABC News; and Thomas Snowden, Editor, NBC News.

Gold Circle Documentary Inductees are Jon Alpert, Documentarian, Journalist, Co-Founder of DCTV, and Keiko Tsuno, Documentarian, Journalist, Co-Founder of DCTV.

Silver Circle Documentary Inductees are Daniel H. Birman, Documentarian, Birman Productions; Lois Vossen, Executive Producer, ITVS; and Christopher White, Executive Producer, American Documentary.

“This year’s Gold & Silver honorees are recognized for their phenomenal and continuing contributions to our television industry,” said Adam Sharp, President and CEO, NATAS. “Their persistent excellence of craft has enabled viewers to be better informed about the issues of the day, even as the character of the news cycle has evolved so markedly over the storied course of their careers. We celebrate the courage of these professionals and salute the vital storytelling they bring to our screens.”

José Díaz-Balart to Anchor New Morning Program on MSNBC

José Díaz-Balart is switching things up…

The 60-year-old Cuban-American journalist and television anchorman will host a new 10:00 AM ET show on MSNBC, with Hallie Jackson taking over an anchor slot later in the day at 3:00 PM ET.

José Díaz-Balart

Díaz-Balart will end his role as anchor of Telemundo’s nightly newscast Noticias Telemundo at the end of the month, but will still anchor monthly specials and breaking news events.

José Díaz-Balart Reports will premiere on September 27.

Díaz-Balart will continue to anchor NBC Nightly News Saturday

When he began anchoring that newscast, he became the first journalist to anchor two different evening newscasts on separate broadcast networks in English and Spanish.

He’s won four Emmy awards, the George Foster Peabody Award and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award.

“I look forward to this unique role where I can reach different audiences in English and Spanish across the NBCUniversal News Group,” he said in a statement.

Díaz-Balart previously served as an anchor on MSNBC from 2014 to 2016. He joined Noticias Telemundo in 2000, anchoring programs including Esta Mañana, Cada Día, and Enfoque con José Díaz-BalartHe took over as the main anchor for Noticias Telemundo in 2009.

A priority of MSNBC President Rashida Jones has been to more clearly distinguish between the dayside news programming and the nighttime “perspective” shows.

The network also noted that the addition of Díaz-Balart is part of NBCUniversal News Group efforts to bring in more diverse voices, as the division chairman Cesar Conde has set a goal of 50% of the workforce to people of color and 50% to be women. NBC News and MSNBC have nine Latino anchors across broadcast, cable and streaming.