Jose Diaz-Balart
Encyclopedia
José Díaz-Balart is a Cuban-American journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 and television anchorman. He is currently the anchor for Noticiero Telemundo, the network's news program as well as the network's Washington DC-based public affairs Sunday morning program Enfoque. Sometimes described as the Brian Williams
Brian Williams
Brian Douglas Williams is the anchor and managing editor of NBC Nightly News, the evening news program of the NBC television network, a position he assumed in 2004...

 of Telemundo, Diaz-Balart delivers political news that affects the Latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...

 community.

In August 1996 he made history by becoming the first Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n-American to host a network news program when he became anchor for the CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...

 program This Morning. He co-hosted with Maria Antonieta Collins
María Antonieta Collins
María Antonieta Collins Flores is a Mexican journalist, TV host and best seller author of seven books , and winner of four Emmy Awards, , and the Edward Murrow Award.- Biography :Collins became known to viewers in her native Mexico as a reporter of "Televisa 24 horas" ,...

 in Telemundo
Telemundo
Telemundo is an American television network that broadcasts in Spanish. The network is the second-largest Spanish-language content producer in the world, and the second-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, behind Univision....

 public affairs show "Cada Día con Maria Antonieta."

Díaz-Balart received two Emmy award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

s while he was working at WTVJ-TV
WTVJ
WTVJ, virtual channel 6 , is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC television network, located in Broward County. WTVJ shares its TV studio and office facility with co-owned Telemundo station WSCV in Miramar, Florida, and its transmitter is located near Sun Life Stadium in north...

, an Associated Press Award and four Hispanic Excellence in Journalism Awards, all in the 1980s.
He also received a Du Pont and Peabody as well as the Orchid award for best news anchor in the U.S. in 2006. Media 100 has named him best anchor three times, and Hispanic Business Magazine named him one of the "100 most influential people in the U.S." He was given the Silver Circle Award by the National Academy of Television Sciences in 2010. As of June 2011, Diaz-Balart has filled in for MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...

 anchor Contessa Brewer
Contessa Brewer
Contessa Brewer is an American host for the MSNBC weekend program Caught on Camera.-Biography:Brewer was born in in Parsonsfield, Maine, and graduated from Sacopee Valley High School in Hiram, Maine in 1992. She graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public...

 at the 12pm time slot, hosting the one hour MSNBC Program, MSNBC Live
MSNBC Live
msnbc Live is an American news / talk television program on MSNBC hosted by Thomas Roberts.Focusing on live news coverage, the program also consists of guest analysis and interviews around the stories of the day, in addition to feature-like stories, in-depth special reports, and The Weather Channel...

.

For the second time Diaz-Balart made history when he substituted for MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...

 Live anchor Contessa Brewer
Contessa Brewer
Contessa Brewer is an American host for the MSNBC weekend program Caught on Camera.-Biography:Brewer was born in in Parsonsfield, Maine, and graduated from Sacopee Valley High School in Hiram, Maine in 1992. She graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public...

 for the week of June 20 through 24, 2011 in the show’s 12 PM time slot, making him the first U.S. journalist to broadcast both English and Spanish newscasts on two networks simultaneously.

Family

Díaz-Balart is the son of Rafael Diaz-Balart
Rafael Diaz-Balart
Rafael Lincoln Díaz-Balart y Gutiérrez was a Cuban politician. Díaz-Balart served as Majority Leader of the Cuban House of Representatives and Minister of the Interior during the presidency of Fulgencio Batista....

 y Guitierrez (a former Cuban politician). He has three brothers, Rafael Diaz-Balart (a banker), Mario Diaz-Balart
Mario Diaz-Balart
Mario Rafael Diaz-Balart Caballero is the current U.S. Representative for , serving since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in 2010 to succeed his brother, Lincoln Diaz-Balart. The district includes the city of Hialeah, along with several of Miami's southwestern suburbs...

 (a US Congressman) and Lincoln Diaz-Balart
Lincoln Diaz-Balart
Lincoln Rafael Díaz-Balart was the U.S. Representative for from 1993 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party. He previously served in the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate...

 (a former US Congressman). His aunt, Mirta Diaz-Balart
Mirta Diaz-Balart
Mirta Francisca de la Caridad Díaz-Balart y Gutiérrez was Fidel Castro's first wife, the daughter of Rafael José Díaz-Balart, a prominent Cuban politician and mayor of the town of Banes, and wife América Gutiérrez...

, was Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

's first wife. His uncle, Waldo Diaz-Balart
Waldo Diaz-Balart
Waldo Díaz-Balart is a Cuban painter living in Madrid, Spain.Díaz-Balart studied accounting and political science and economics in Havana before moving to New York to pursue art studies in 1959. From 1959 to 1962 studied art in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA...

, is a Cuban painter. He is married and has two daughters.
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