Univision-owned KMEX in Los Angeles has named its main news studio in honor of trailblazing journalist Ruben Salazar, exactly 46 years after his death at the age of 42.
The station unveiled a commemorative plaque naming the newsroom in his honor at an Aug. 29 ceremony that also included a documentary based on Salazar’s work and life and a panel discussion with that film’s director, Phillip Rodriguez.
“Ruben Salazar is a pioneering journalist whose legacy is that of a champion and a voice of the Hispanic community in Los Angeles,” Univision/Los Angeles general manager Luis Patiño said. “It is an honor to rename our news studio to commemorate his life and his work, and to inspire generations of Univision journalists and community members for years to come.”
Born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and raised across the border in El Paso, Texas, Salazar began his career in 1959 as a local reporter at the Los Angeles Times. He left Los Angeles to fill posts in Vietnam, the Dominican Republic and Mexico City, but was called back in 1968 to cover the city’s growing and increasingly vocal Chicano power movement.
Salazar died during the National Chicano Moratorium March against the Vietnam War on August 29, 1970 in East Los Angeles, after he was struck by a tear gas projectile fired by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy. An investigation determined that his death was accidental.
The Aug. 29 ceremony was attended by Chris Peña, Univision’s senior vice president of news, local media; John Eck, chief local media officer; Patiño; and Univision/Los Angeles senior vice president and general manager Marco Flores.
