Fortune has named famed Univision anchor Jorge Ramos one of its 50 World’s Greatest Leaders for 2016:
“For much of white America, Ramos became a household name only after Donald Trump kicked him out of a press conference in August. But Ramos, who has co-hosted Univision’s flagship Spanish-language news show for almost 30 years, might be the most influential journalist in the U.S. Ramos is part journalist, part advocate, a newsman who hammers candidates on immigration policy even as he urges Hispanic Americans to register to vote. Political analysts have found that Latinos are twice as likely to vote if they frequently watch Spanish-language news, a correlation they dubbed the “Jorge Ramos effect.”
“This is personal,” Ramos has said about the xenophobic rhetoric from Donald Trump and other Republican candidates for President this election cycle. “And that’s the big difference between Spanish-language and mainstream media, because he’s talking about our parents, our friends, our kids and our babies.”
Reporting on the issues important to Latinos and immigrants, as well as asking Democrats and Republicans alike the tough questions, are the reasons why Ramos and his longtime Univision co-anchor, Maria Elena Salinas, have consistently laid claim to the most-watched news program among Latinos in the US.
In 2014, Ramos famously cornered former Speaker John Boehner during a press conference for stalling on a House floor vote on immigration reform (“Me, blocking?” Boehner sheepishly giggled), and in 2012, Ramos confronted an irked President Obama for record deportations and failing on his campaign promise to pass reform during his first term.
‘No one can make it to the White House without the Hispanic vote” Ramos has famously quipped, and Univision is in the beginning of ramping up millions of new Latino voters in time for the 2016 Presidential election.
Latinos listen, and Ramos has had their ear for years — a former Bush officials once said Ramos is “not only a journalist, he’s become the voice of the Latino constituency. And that’s where Republicans have to worry — you don’t want to lose Jorge Ramos” — and now it appears the rest of the nation is listening too.