Juan González (born October 15, 1947) is an American progressive

broadcast journalist Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

and

investigative reporter Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

. He was also a columnist for the New York '' Daily News'' from 1987 to 2016. He frequently co-hosts the radio and television program ''

Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...

'' with

Amy Goodman Amy Goodman (born April 13, 1957) is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter, and author. Her investigative journalism career includes coverage of the East Timor independence movement, Morocco's occupation ...

Early life

González was born on October 15, 1947 in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

to Juan González, who was a veteran of the Puerto Rican 65th Infantry during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and Florinda Rivera de González. González was raised in East Harlem and

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. After a period as editor of his high school newspaper, the ''Lane Reporter'', González attended Columbia College and graduated in the mid-1960s. At Columbia College he was active in the

anti-Vietnam War movement Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War (before) or anti-Vietnam War movement (present) began with demonstrations in 1965 against the escalating role of the United States in the Vietnam War and grew into a broad social mov ...

and played a leading role in the protests that shut down the college in spring 1968 as one of three "Strike Central" representatives on the strike coordinating committee.Rudd, Mark. ''Underground: My life with SDS and the Weathermen'' In the student strike that followed the

police riot A police riot is a riot carried out by the police; more specifically, it is a riot that police are responsible for instigating, escalating or sustaining as a violent confrontation. Police riots are often characterized by widespread police bruta ...

that ended the occupation he continued in this role and in negotiations at the apartment of Eugene Galanter. He was a member of

Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships ...

and a founding member of the New York City branch of the

Young Lords The Young Lords, also known as the Young Lords Organization (YLO) or Young Lords Party (YLP), was a Chicago-based street gang that became a civil and human rights organization. The group aims to fight for neighborhood empowerment and self-det ...

, serving on its first central committee as its Minister of Education. In 1981, he was elected president of the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights, a political organization that concentrated on registering

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

voters.

Journalism career

After just a couple of weeks into studying journalism at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

, González's instructor encouraged him to apply for a post at the instructor's other workplace the '' Philadelphia Daily News''. González application led him to become a clerk in 1978; however, within months he quickly was employed as a full-time reporter.In-Depth Profile of Juan González
''Columbia Magazine'', Summer 2013. In 1987, González landed a job as a reporter for ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

''. However, soon after returning to New York González was offered his own column and better salary at the ''New York Daily News'' and so he chose to work there instead. While working for the ''New York Daily News'', González won his first

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

in 1998 for "unflinching"

investigative reporting Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years res ...

. González is former president of the

National Association of Hispanic Journalists The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) is a Washington, D.C.-based organization dedicated to the advancement of Hispanic and Latino journalists in the United States and Puerto Rico. It was established in 1984. NAHJ has approxim ...

, for which he created the Parity Project, an innovative program designed to help news organizations recruit and retain Hispanic reporters and managers. In 2008, The

inducted González into the organization's Hall of Fame. In addition, he has been named by ''Hispanic Business Magazine'' as one of America's most influential Hispanics, as well as earning a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hispanic Academy of Media Arts and Sciences. For two years, González was the Belle Zeller Visiting Professor in Public Policy and Administration at Brooklyn College/CUNY, with an appointment in both the Department of Puerto Rican and Latino Studies, as well as the Political Science Department. In December 2006, he reported the results of an exclusive interview with the purported ''"fourth man"'' who was present at the scene on November 25 when plainclothes

NYPD The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

officers shot and killed Sean Bell. González has written extensively on the

health effects arising from the September 11 attacks The health effects arising from the September 11 attacks refers to the illnesses and negative health effects experienced by survivors of the terrorist attacks. Within seconds of the collapse of the World Trade Center, building materials, electr ...

and the cover-up of Ground Zero air hazards in columns in the New York ''Daily News''. He was the first reporter in New York City to write on the health effects arising from the September 11, 2001 attacks. González was awarded the 2010 Justice in Action Award from the

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) is a New York-based national organization founded in 1974 that seeks to protect and promote the civil rights of Asian Americans. By combining litigation, advocacy, education, and organiz ...

, and, in 2011, won the

a second time for a series of columns in the '' New York Daily News'' which exposed criminal acts connected with then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s CityTime project, a new computerized payroll system, leading to the federal indictment of four consultancies for fraud. The voices of González and

, from an episode of "Democracy Now", were used (uncredited) over news footage concerning Hurricane Katrina in the opening montage of New Orleans at the beginning of the action-drama film ''

Streets of Blood ''Streets of Blood'' is a 2009 direct-to-video action film directed by Charles Winkler and starring Val Kilmer, 50 Cent, Michael Biehn and Sharon Stone. It has a screenplay by Eugene Hess, based on a story by Hess and Dennis Fanning. The film was ...

'' (2009). He has said that a prime motivating force in his work has been, "a sense about the unjust treatment of people". In 2015, the New York City chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists inducted González into its New York Journalism Hall of Fame, along with

Max Frankel Max Frankel (born April 3, 1930) is an American journalist. He was executive editor of ''The New York Times'' from 1986 to 1994. Life and career Frankel was born in Gera, Germany. He was an only child, and his family belonged to a Jewish minorit ...

, Charlie Rose, Lesley Stahl,

Paul Steiger Paul Steiger (born August 15, 1942) is an American journalist who served as managing editor of '' The Wall Street Journal'' from 1991 until May 15, 2007. After that, he was the founding editor-in-chief, CEO and president of ProPublica from 2008 thr ...

, and

Richard Stolley Richard Brockway Stolley (October 3, 1928 – June 16, 2021) was an American journalist and magazine editor. He is noted as the founding managing editor of People (magazine), ''People'' magazine and for acquiring the Zapruder film for Life (maga ...

. Since 2018, he has held the post of Professor of Professional Practice at

Rutgers University-New Brunswick Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

's School of Communication and Information.

Books

González has written four books: *''Fallout: The Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center Collapse'' (2002; ), documents cover-ups by Environmental Protection Agency and government officials with regard to health hazards at

Ground Zero In relation to nuclear explosions and other large bombs, ground zero (also called surface zero) is the point on the Earth's surface closest to a detonation. In the case of an explosion above the ground, ''ground zero'' is the point on the groun ...

in New York. *''Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America'' (2009, 2011, 2022
excerpt
*''Roll Down Your Window: Stories of a Forgotten America'' *''Reclaiming Gotham: Bill de Blasio and the Movement to End America’s Tale of Two Cities'' (2017) González is also the co-author, with Joseph Torres, of ''News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media'' (2011; ), a history of the American media with special focus on media outlets owned and controlled by people of color, and how they were suppressed—sometimes violently—by mainstream political, corporate and media leaders.

Film

* '' Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America'', a film adaptation from the book of the same name.

References

External links