The most significant jumps a journalist can make is taking a position in another country and going from local news media to the national stage.
It’s two things that Univision’s León Krauze has done successfully, crossing over from a journalist in Mexico to one in the United States, then leaving the Los Angeles market for Univision’s national platform.
Krauze spent over a decade in one of the country’s biggest markets, but coming over from the Mexican news media to Univision’s local flagship station wasn’t as difficult for him as some might believe.
He graduated from New York University, where he got his master’s degree and a taste of American pop culture, leading to a geek-like affinity for Saturday Night Live before making the career move later in life.
Furthermore, landing in Los Angeles, which has the second-largest Mexican population behind Mexico City, was a good landing spot for Krauze, who brought along his wife and young son in the process.
“When it came to adapting to America, it was really quite easy for me, and then Los Angeles helped because LA is the second-largest Mexican city,” Krauze said. “It’s quintessentially a Mexican and Hispanic city, so it was in that regard a smooth landing for us as a family.”
The goal for Krauze when he arrived in Los Angeles was to lean on community-oriented journalism for the residents to get to know him. So after making it his mission to learn about the community in California, not only Los Angeles, Krauze developed an audio program called “La Mesa con Leon Krauze.”
Krauze would travel with a table rather than a pen and notepad and listen to people’s stories, where they came from, and how they got to where they are. This show was one of the ways the Mexican journalist embedded himself in the communities across California.
However, after a decade in Los Angeles, earlier this year, Krauze was presented with an opportunity to head to the national stage, which for many would be a no-brain decision. Still, for him, it wasn’t easy and required a lot of thought.
“It was not an easy decision,” Krauze said on leaving local news for a national platform. “It goes back to the role of local news. I think local news is crucial for people. In a way, it’s as crucial as national news … but I made the decision based on the fact that I could represent all the people I learned.”
Now Krauze co-anchors “Noticiero Univision Edición Nocturna” alongside Patricia Janiot. He’s also the host of a new daily news podcast, “Univision Reporta,” where he presents a topic each day and discusses it with a guest for 20 to 30 minutes; think what The New York Times does with its podcast, “The Daily” and others of that ilk.
Since taking on this new project, Krauze has tackled various sensitive topics such as the two recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the femicides in Mexico.
Of course, these topics need more than the time permitted on a daily podcast. Still, Krauze explains that his experience having a radio show in Los Angeles has played a role in tackling sensitive issues and presenting them in a short time but with a high dosage of information on the subject.
“I think my experience in radio helped. I’ve worked in radio since I was 20 years old; in Los Angeles, I had a daily show radio show with open phone lines, where I had heated and touching conversations with callers,” Krauze said. “In radio, you learn quickly how to synthesize complex topics and how to help the audience understand these topics.”
“Podcasting offers you a larger canvas when you don’t have to hold an interview to seven minutes, and you can go on maybe another 10-15 minutes, and that allows you to add more context.”
Univision’s daily podcast with Krauze at the helm doesn’t only cover issues within the borders of the United States and bring topics that they know people are interested in hearing. He also wants the program to spotlight matters that maybe people aren’t aware of, but they should be.
For those unaware of this type of content, look at how HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” with John Oliver tackles topics that affect those in this country. The comedian also stresses issues Americans should be aware of, such as profiling Latin American politicians like Jair Bolsonaro or Nicolas Maduro to the whole Brexit situation.
This line of news information is what Krauze strives for with Univision Reporta. Guests selection and post-production play a significant part in how the show intends to inform listeners of topics beyond the United States borders, such as recently discussing the Colombian election.
“We try to find guests who are knowledgable but who are also eloquent and can explain complex issues in the clearest way possible,” Krauze said. “Post-Production allows us to add connecting tissue to the episode.”
“After the interview, we locate concepts that someone who is not familiar with this would need an explanation, so we add these lines of text in which I connect the conversation so that the person is listening, not only has a clear sense of what’s going on now, but has a clear sense of the history, cultural, and social context of the issue we are presenting.”
Krauze is a couple of months into this new podcast, and the end goal is for this show to become the go-to podcast in Spanish for every Spanish speaker from Los Angeles to Barcelona who wants to know what is vital in the world today and how they can understand it.
“Our dream is for this podcast to become the absolute go-to podcast, go-to place where you can put on your headphones and immerse yourself for 30 minutes into the most revealing conversation about the realities of our complex world,” Krauze said.
Anyone interested in listening to upcoming and past episodes can find the library of episodes here.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
