Apr 23, 2026 [[read-time]] minute read
Editor’s Note: Since the publication of this interview, Jorge Ramos has been awarded a News & Documentary Emmy® Award for his independent journalism featured on YouTube. We congratulate Jorge and his team on this incredible achievement and their continued dedication to impactful storytelling.
News & Documentary Emmy® nominations were released on April 7th, and a familiar name appeared on the list: Jorge Ramos. With 10 Emmys and a Lifetime Achievement Award already on his shelf, Jorge is no stranger to the Television Academy. But this year feels different. For the first time, the work being honored wasn't backed by a massive network or a legacy broadcast slot. It was created fully independently on YouTube and social media.
Free from the timing constraints of broadcast and the formality of the suit and tie, Jorge has proven, as he puts it, that “credibility travels with you.” We sat down with the veteran journalist to discuss his digital transition and his advice for the next generation of reporters.
Jorge Ramos: It’s interesting. For 40 years, I was always on TV. I am incredibly grateful—I learned so much and traveled the world. But I wouldn’t say this is completely new. After the internet arrived, we knew we needed a presence elsewhere. While I was doing television, I started shifting slowly toward digital platforms and YouTube. I realized you cannot exist as a journalist today without those platforms. So, it’s not a "new" home; it’s a home I started building while I was still on TV.
Jorge Ramos: First, it's independent journalism and that means that we decide exactly what to publish and what not to. It is complete freedom. You can move away from any corporate vision of what journalism should be.
Second, there’s been a shift from legacy media to digital. I read a Pew Research Center study showing that 65% of Latinos prefer getting news on digital devices—that’s more than White or Black adults. There’s a real shift in the attention of the audience and it is affecting absolutely everything.
The most important thing, I’m realizing, is that credibility goes with you. If I say something and you don’t believe me, my work doesn't matter. We are seeing a shift where credibility is moving from legacy brands to individual journalists.
Jorge Ramos: Yes. I used to do interviews that lasted three or four minutes. Now, I can extend the interview as long as needed. I have the opportunity to try and understand my guest in ways I just couldn’t in the past. Also, I don’t expect the audience to be hearing the news for the first time. They check their phones when they wake up; they know what happened. My job now is to put the news in context, to make it relatable to you. Another beauty is, I don’t have to wear a tie.
Jorge Ramos: Absolutely. For 40 years, I thought people knew me, but as a journalist I was taught that anchormen should never cry. Most of the time I tried to keep my emotions and my opinions to myself. Nowadays, I can express myself much more freely. I can stop and express an opinion or an emotion in a human way. This format is much more relaxed.
Jorge Ramos: I have an immediate reaction from the people now. We follow the statistics and we know exactly where their attention is. I’m impressed by the reach. In March alone, we had more than 28 million views on YouTube. If you put all our platforms together, it was over 100 million views. We were not used to those numbers on television. It proves you can do independent journalism and have an impact.
Jorge Ramos: Absolutely. I understand that most of what I’m doing can be seen in Latin America and Spain, although the information is mostly concentrated on the 65 to 70 million Latinos living here in the United States. People everywhere in Latin America want to know what’s happening in the United States, and I think we can be that credible source of information for them.
Jorge Ramos: I think there’s definitely a younger audience. The people watching us are more tech-savvy. The possibility of them watching us at any time is very important. When I was working on TV, I used to go to schools and universities and tell the students to look at me because I’m a "dinosaur." I was asking them to make an appointment every single day at 6:30pm to watch the news. I knew that was going to end; we were seeing millions of viewers disappearing every year. We needed to do something to survive—to "avoid the asteroid."
YouTube has given us the opportunity to survive, to be relevant, and to have an impact. Nowadays, the tools YouTube and Google give us allow us to be present everywhere and compete with anybody. That’s the beauty of doing independent journalism.
Jorge Ramos: I think of myself as a journalist regardless of where I work. I believe that nowadays, you don't have to be an "anchorman." You have to be a "surfer." The idea is that you have the same information—you are a content creator going to different platforms. But the most important principle for me is that I have to be a journalist. To do that, you have two rules: the first is to report reality as it is, not as we wish it would be. The second is to challenge and question those who are in power. It doesn't matter where I am—television or YouTube—the idea is that you should continue doing journalism.
Jorge Ramos: It is different. It's a "proof of concept." Many people were saying it is impossible to compete with the big networks, but we are showing that we can. These two Emmy nominations are very important because they prove that journalism can exist and have an impact anywhere. It's a recognition that if you don't embrace that shift, you're simply going to disappear. It’s a recognition that even a small team, like the one we have at Asi Veo Las Cosas, can compete with any network in the world.
Jorge Ramos: Yeah, and that’s the beauty of digital news and YouTube. When I started in journalism 40 years ago, there was only one way to the top: you had to be a local reporter, then maybe a local anchor, then a national reporter, and eventually a national anchor. It would take 20 years. Nowadays, you only need a cellphone to report around the world. You don’t have to start big; a team of two or three people can have an audience of millions. I tell students and new journalists that this is an incredible opportunity because you don't have to follow one path. You are your own brand, and in journalism, that's incredibly important. YouTube and Google platforms are an incredible tool for starting a career.
Jorge Ramos: Start right away. You are a journalist—start right away. Use your cellphone; don't wait to get a "big job." Use your cellphone to communicate, start doing interviews, question those in power, travel, and see the world. Tell me what you see. Nowadays, whenever there’s a crisis or breaking news, we need journalists all around the world.
