By Nadine Khoury, Harvard Class of 2020
“We must question those in power because if we don’t, nobody else will.” For renowned journalist Jorge Ramos, this is the driving purpose of reporting: to be on the opposite side of power and hold our leaders accountable.
He began his keynote speech at the 2017 Goldsmith Awards Ceremony in the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum with the statement: “No Mr. Trump, I am not your enemy, but I don’t want to be your friend either, and that’s the end of my speech.” As Ramos continued, he dissected the meaning this sentence, not centering it on a dislike for our President, but rather rooting the phrase in his own story and a passion to fulfill the freedom of expression that is the fabric of the American identity.
At the ceremony Ramos spoke at length about his experience as an immigrant from Mexico, a young journalist at his prime, ready to study and report even when it might be controversial. He began his career as a journalist in Mexico. At age 24, he immigrated to the United States after critiquing the Mexican President in his reporting. The U.S. offered him the right to practice what he believed was journalism: the ability to criticize and examine even the highest ranking officials in an attempt to make the public aware and to spur change in the society. Ramos did not want to be a “censored journalist.” He described this experience, stating, “This country gave me the opportunities that my country couldn’t give me … Every immigrant can tell you this story; something pushed them out of their country and something [equally as strong] pulled them into this nation. I was just an immigrant trying to reinvent my life.”
Ramos ended up moving to Los Angeles, California and studied at UCLA. He became a local reporter and then moved to a morning show in Florida. At the mere age of 28, he became one of the youngest news anchors in America on Univision, the highest rated newscast among Hispanics in the United States. He reaches an average of 2.2 million viewers, over half under the age of 50. Now, he is arguably one of the most watched television news anchors in America.
He explained that part of his success is rooted in the belief that a journalist must be on the opposite side of power, not as an enemy, but as a force that will critique our current systems, pushing them to make better changes for our society. He describes this force with the Spanish word Contrapoder, explaining that the press has a moral obligation to hold its systems of power accountable in the face of conflict.
Perhaps the most optimistic and warming part of his speech, however, was when he answered questions from the audience. At the end of his speech, Harvard College student Eduardo Gonzalez (’18) addressed the growing rift that is dividing Americans today and asked Ramos how he sees his role in bridging this divide.
Ramos answered with one simple but powerful sentence: “Engage them in a conversation.” He continued:
“As journalists, we made many mistakes before the election …We didn’t want to listen to the others, … We didn’t see those rifts [between] people … As journalists, we’re supposed to report reality as it is but that was not reality. We have to start listening to other people and leave the newsroom.”
Ramos ended his appearance with the same sentence with which he began it, but it had taken a deeper meaning after his speech: “No Mr. Trump, I am not your enemy, but I don’t want to be your friend either.”
Watch Ramos’ entire speech and the rest of the 2017 Goldsmith Awards below: