Maria Elena Salinas, who was a longtime anchor on Univision’s evening news, is joining CBS News as a contributor. Salinas will contribute to reports across CBS News broadcasts and platforms and will cover the run-up to the 2020 election.
“It is an honor to welcome Maria Elena Salinas to the CBS News team,” said Susan Zirinsky, CBS News president and senior executive producer. “We look forward to sharing her important voice and journalistic credentials with our audience in a critical time for this country.”
While at Univision, Salinas was co-host of Noticiero Univision and co-host of newsmag Aquí y Ahora. Salinas has interviewed world leaders, including every U.S. president since Jimmy Carter, and covered virtually every major national and international news event of our time. She was one of the first female journalists in wartime Baghdad.
Salinas departed Univision in 2017.
She was the host of The Real Story with Maria Elena Salinas, a crime series for Investigation Discovery. She also covered the 2018 presidential election in Mexico for Telemundo.
Salinas contributed to CBS Sunday Morning in 2016, when she reported on the role Hispanics would play in the election.
She is the author of the autobiography I Am My Father's Daughter, Living a Life Without Secrets.
Salinas began her journalism career in 1981 as a reporter, anchor and public affairs host for KMEX Los Angeles.
