Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on October 9, 2014

New York City is home to some 2.4 million Hispanic residents, many who help this city tick while intrinsically linked to their heritage -- they're heads of office representing a heavily Latino district, chefs who experiment with the culinary traditions of their homeland, journalists who provide Spanish-language news, directors of Hispanic cultural centers.

In honor of the Hispanic Day Parade and Hispanic Heritage Month, we look at seven such people who are the face of Hispanic New York today.

It didn't take along for Juan Manuel Benitez to make a name for himself in NYC politics. Soon after starting his journalism career in the city, the native of Badajoz, Spain, was the first reporter NY1 hired back in 2003 for NY1 Noticias, its 24-hour Spanish language cable news television channel, where Benitez quickly found his beat: politics.

"For my first story, on NY1 Noticias' launch day, I remember interviewing a young Puerto Rican activist very few people had heard of; today, she's New York City Council Speaker," says Benitez, referring to Melissa Mark-Viverito (who is profiled here as well).

In 2005, Benitez cemented his role in the arena, when he and his producer, Themys Brito, launched "Pura Politica," a weekly Spanish-language political talk show on NY1 Noticias that's "become a required stop for political candidates and elected officials, here in New York and in Latin America," says Benitez.

"We want to make politics fun, we want to make politics accessible to regular New Yorkers and we want to set high journalistic standards, the ones the Latino community deserves," he says.

The audience, naturally, is mostly local Spanish speakers, though Benitez says there is interest from non-Hispanic New Yorkers and international viewers. Recent guests have included U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson, former president of Colombia lvaro Uribe and Ecuador's Foreign Affairs Minister Ricardo Patio.

Benitez believes "Pura Politica" has helped raise the standards of Latino politics in the city.

"In the last decade, we've gone from having to wait until the end of a press conference in order to ask a question in Spanish, to having most elected public officials -- including the mayor -- at least read a few sentences in Spanish in every major announcement," says Benitez. "I do believe we had something to do with that."

It didn't take along for Juan Manuel Benitez to make a name for himself in NYC politics. Soon after starting his journalism career in the city, the native of Badajoz, Spain, was the first reporter NY1 hired back in 2003 for NY1 Noticias, its 24-hour Spanish language cable news television channel, where Benitez quickly found his beat: politics.

Here is the original post:
Hispanic Heritage Month: 7 NYC power players

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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