José Díaz-Balart

José Díaz-Balart
Diaz-Balart in 2015
Born	(1960-11-07) November 7, 1960 Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Nationality	United States of America
Alma mater	New College of Florida
Occupation	Journalist
Employer(s)	NBCUniversal Comcast
Television	MSNBC Live (anchor) NBC Nightly News (anchor) Noticiero Telemundo (anchor)
Children	2
Father	Rafael Diaz-Balart
Family	Mario Diaz-Balart (brother) Lincoln Diaz-Balart (brother) Rafael Diaz-Balart (brother) Mirta Diaz-Balart (aunt) Waldo Diaz-Balart (uncle)

José Díaz-Balart (born November 7, 1960) is a Cuban-American journalist and television anchorman. He is currently the anchor for Noticiero Telemundo, the Telemundo network's news program, as well as the network's public affairs Sunday morning program Enfoque con Jose Diaz-Balart. He is also anchor of NBC Nightly News on Saturdays.

In August 1996 he made history by becoming the first Cuban-American to host a network news program when he became anchor for the CBS News program This Morning. He co-hosted Telemundo Network's first morning news and entertainment show, Esta Mañana, as well as its public affairs show, Cada Día.

Diaz-Balart is the recipient of a national Emmy for his work with Telemundo Network. Díaz-Balart received two Emmy awards while he was working at WTVJ-TV in Miami, 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 anchor Contessa Brewer in the 12pm time slot, hosting the one-hour program MSNBC Live.

For the second time Diaz-Balart made history when he substituted for Brewer on MSNBC Live 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.

On May 20, 2014, MSNBC announced that Diaz-Balart would begin hosting the 10 AM news hour beginning in mid-June. He replaced Chris Jansing, the newly named NBC News Senior White House Correspondent. It was announced on November 10, 2014, that Diaz-Balart would be taking over hosting duties on The Daily Rundown on November 17, 2014, with the program expanding to two hours, essentially absorbing Diaz-Balart's eponymous show that had previously aired during the second hour. The Daily Rundown would later become known as MSNBC Live with Jose Diaz-Balart as part of a wider restructuring of MSNBC's dayside programming.

Diaz-Balart co-moderated the March 9, 2016, Democratic Party presidential debate in Miami, Florida, sponsored by Univision and The Washington Post, between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

Family

Díaz-Balart is the son of Rafael Díaz-Balart y Gutiérrez (a former Cuban politician). He has three brothers, Rafael Diaz-Balart (a banker), Mario Diaz-Balart (a US representative) and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (a former US representative). His aunt, Mirta Diaz-Balart,was Fidel Castro’s first wife and therefore Fidel Castro is his uncle through marriage and Fidel Castro Jr.(Fidelito) his first cousin. His uncle, Waldo Diaz-Balart, is a Cuban painter. He is married and has two daughters.

References

• The Cuban Americans, New Americans by Miguel González-Pando;Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998; ISBN 978-0-313-29824-0
• Cuba: intrahistoria : una lucha sin tregua By Rafael L. Díaz-Balart;Ediciones Universal, 2006; ISBN 978-1-59388-067-5

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN