Los Angeles, CA — CCNMA Latino Journalists of California and LA Plaza De Cultura Y Artes present Straight Talk with Media pioneer Frank Cruz at 7:00 p.m., open-to-the-public event in LA Plaza’s courtyard – 501 North Main St., downtown Los Angeles.

Join a panel of reporters who will interview veteran journalist and Telemundo Co-founder and media executive Frank Cruz regarding his groundbreaking careers in education, social reporting, and television station and network ownership.

Free Event — Open to the Public

How Cruz and partner Joe Wallach assembled the coast-to-coast Telemundo network in less than 12 months is certainly one for the record books.  And in a more poignant mood, his new memoir, “Straight Out of Barrio Hollywood,” Cruz begs the question — When history repeats itself, must it always come down on the backs of the least powerful?

“When I started the project of writing my memoir, I enjoyed correcting the various legends about how Telemundo was started.  But what I didn’t expect, was how upsetting it has been to recount many of the issues I reported on back in the ‘70s and ‘80s which still plague our society today,” said Cruz.

The memoir leads with Cruz in Congress defending the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from an assault by Contract for America supporters, hell-bent on deleting a federal budget line item for the non-profit Cruz chaired that supports 1400 television and radio stations nationwide.

Cruz then harkens back to his roots in the poorest of neighborhoods in Tucson, Arizona, Barrio Hollywood, which he sites as the foundation for his groundbreaking careers in higher education, investigative reporting, Spanish-language television station and network ownership, as well as public broadcasting leadership.

Whether recalling darting under cars with fellow reporter Christine Lund to avoid the barrage of bullets at the SLA Shootout in Los Angeles, speaking to then-KNBC-TV helicopter pilot Francis Gary Powers for the last time on-air just prior to his fatal crash, or shepherding CCNMA and Latino Public Broadcasting, Cruz offers a unique perspective on numerous major events.

Latino leaders from Jorge Ramos to Xavier Becerra hail Cruz for filling a void of trailblazer stories which are needed to flesh out the historical record of the Chicano Movement of the sixties as a precursor to the Latino Wave. “If you want to understand us, read this book,” encourages Jorge Ramos. The memoir is a recent award winner at the International Latino Book Awards.

July 16th, La Plaza De Cultura Y Artes
501 North Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

For more details, contact:
Cruzmemoir@cox.net or call (760) 908-4717

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