A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
One of the longest-serving anchors in U.S. television history is stepping down. Univision anchor Jorge Ramos made his announcement yesterday.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JORGE RAMOS: (Speaking Spanish).
MARTÍNEZ: He told viewers that the decision to leave after 40 years was difficult, sad and took real time to make. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik has interviewed Ramos several times over the years, joins us now. David, so what do we know about this decision?
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Well, the network and Ramos said they mutually agreed not to renew his contract, so he's departing after 38 years as anchor and 40 years at the network.
MARTÍNEZ: So tell us about his career at Univision. What drove him?
FOLKENFLIK: Ramos left Mexico, his native land, as a young reporter. And he had the sense there that, basically, journalism was intimidated, that authorities had cowed independent reporting. He didn't want that. He came here to do what he felt was real reporting and, even after becoming an anchor in short measure, maintained a sense of curiosity about reporting, about new platforms. I talked to him about that, as well. He reported on America for his Spanish-speaking audience, but also explained Latino life to English-speaking Americans on ABC News and other places - increasingly propelled, I think it's fair to say, by a sense of injustice over immigration and other key matters for Latinos in ways that really drove his reporting, at times drew criticism of the question of whether he was acting as an advocate, as opposed to purely a journalist.
MARTÍNEZ: Right. And those issues, particularly immigration - those arose during Ramos' clashes with Donald Trump during his first run for the White House. What happened there?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, so Ramos really emerged as a figure reporting on Trump's rhetoric, Trump's proposals - you know, the question of the wall, the question of the way in which he characterized immigrants to this country. Trump had said, early in his campaign in 2015, after he announced - he had called undocumented immigrants to this country who came without legal status - he said that they were criminals. He said they were rapists. He said additional things. Ramos thought that should not pass without challenge. So, for example, there was a point in August of 2015 where he sought to ask questions at a press conference, and Trump really wasn't having it. We have a clip here to give you a feel for what that was like.
(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)
DONALD TRUMP: Sit down. Sit down. Go ahead.
RAMOS: I have the right to ask a question.
TRUMP: No, you don't. You haven't been called.
RAMOS: I have the right to ask a question.
TRUMP: Go back to Univision.
FOLKENFLIK: Go back to Univision. Trump there is saying, in a sense, what many immigrants felt they've been told in this country at times - you know, go back to where you came from. Trump actually had Ramos thrown out of the press conference. He ultimately came back, and they had contentious exchange, as well. Ramos, since then, has maintained that sense of injustice in reporting, but there are new owners at Univision who are far friendlier to Trump in those questions. Last year, a Trump interviewer at Univision failed to press him on clearly false claims about immigration policy like the border wall, and another anchor left the network shortly after in dismay.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, I got to admit, what made that clip stand out - and, actually, when it happened - is that someone with an accent was just challenging Donald Trump. That, I think, is going to stick with a lot of people. So what's ahead for Jorge Ramos?
FOLKENFLIK: He says it's not goodbye. He's staying on the network till December, but says he will later reveal his future professional plans.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR's David Folkenflik. David, thanks.
FOLKENFLIK: You bet.
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