Iker Jiménez Elizari (born 10 January 1973) is a Spanish

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and television host. He is a graduate in sciences of information from the

Complutense University of Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university lo ...

and the

European University of Madrid European University of Madrid (''Universidad Europea de Madrid'' in Spanish language, UEM) is a private university in Madrid, Spain. History Founded in 1995, the school was purchased in 1999 by Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc. In 2004, Sylvan Le ...

, and gained prominence directing and presenting, along with his wife and collaborator Carmen Porter, mystery investigation program ''Milenio 3'' in

Cadena SER La Cadena SER (the SER Network) is Spain's premier radio network in terms of both seniority (it was created in 1924) and audience share (it had a regular listenership in 2018 of 4,139,000). The acronym SER stands for ''Sociedad Española de Radi ...

, after which they moved to television with the program ''

Cuarto Milenio ''Cuarto milenio'' is a Spanish television program directed and presented by journalist Iker Jiménez and Carmen Porter. The program has been broadcast weekly on television channel Cuatro since November 2005, being the channel's longest runni ...

'' in

Cuatro Cuatro is Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the number four. Cuatro may also refer to: * Cuatro (instrument), name for two distinct Latin American instruments, one from Puerto Rico (see Cuatro) and the other from Venezuela (see Cuatr ...

. In 2020 he created the

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

''La Estirpe de los Libres'', and the same year started presenting the divulgation program '' Horizonte'', initially in

Telecinco Telecinco is a Spanish free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset España. The channel was previously known as Tele 5, because it had first begun its experimental transmissions on 10 March 1989, and a year later, it was officially laun ...

and later in Cuatro. For his work in ''Milenio 3'' and ''Cuarto Milenio'' eminently, Jiménez has been called by several newspapers one of the premier communicators in Spanish media, as well as one of the most parodied and criticized. While he has been accused on occasions of promoting

trash TV A tabloid talk show is a subgenre of the talk show genre that emphasizes controversial and sensationalistic topical subject matter. The subgenre originated in the United States and achieved peak viewership from the mid-1980s through the end of t ...

, he has also been profusely awarded for journalistic and communicative merits, having three Antenas de Oro and one

Premio Ondas The Premios Ondas (Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other ...

on his resume along with several other awards.

Biography

He was born in Vitoria, and has a bachelor's degree in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

from both the

Universidad Complutense de Madrid The Complutense University of Madrid ( es, Universidad Complutense de Madrid; UCM, links=no, ''Universidad de Madrid'', ''Universidad Central de Madrid''; la, Universitas Complutensis Matritensis, links=no) is a public research university loca ...

and the

Universidad Europea de Madrid European University of Madrid (''Universidad Europea de Madrid'' in Spanish language, UEM) is a private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Den ...

. He is married to Carmen Porter, also a journalist and team member of both Milenio 3 and Cuarto Milenio. His first daughter, Alma Jiménez Porter, was born in 2011.

Career

He has been the presenter of

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' Films * ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film * ''Mystery'' ( ...

programs on radio and publisher of many articles about

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. No ...

activity. He started in 1990 on small radio stations in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

until he went to some of the most important Spanish radio stations: Onda Madrid,

Radio Voz Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

Radio Intercontinental Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

Antena 3 Antena 3 may refer to: * Antena 3 (Portugal), a national radio channel produced by the Portuguese public broadcasting entity Rádio e Televisão de Portugal *Antena 3 (Romania), a Romanian television channel owned by Intact Media Group *Antena 3 (Sp ...

Onda Cero Onda Cero is a Spanish radio station, a part of Atresmedia media group. It is Spain's third-largest radio station by number of listeners as of 2019. Among its programs are ''Más de Uno,'' ''Julia en la Onda,'' ''La Brújula,'' ''El Transistor,'' ...

and

Radio Nacional de España Radio Nacional de España (acronym RNE, branded rne, "National Radio of Spain") is the national state-owned public service radio broadcaster in Spain. RNE is the radio division and Televisión Española (TVE) is the television division of Ra ...

. He has also worked in TV programs for

, Antena 3 or

Cuatro TV Cuatro (stylized as cuatro°, "Four") is a Spanish free-to-air television channel that was launched in November 2005. Owned by Mediaset España, the Spanish subsidiary of the Italian Mediaset group, it is broadcast on TV frequencies licensed to ...

. He founded the CD-Rom magazine, CD Magazine and wrote some articles for several publications. He has been the presenter and director of the radio program ''Milenio 3'' in

. Milenio 3 was the leader program in the Saturday late night Spanish radio and also in other schedules in which it was previously broadcast. Milenio 3 came to an end on 28 June 2015, after 14 seasons on air. He currently presents the television program ''Cuarto Milenio'' (''Fourth Millennium''). Started in 2006, Cuarto Milenio is the most popular program of the Spanish channel

and the oldest of the programs broadcast by Cuatro. He also started a self-produced live show in

in 2018, ''Milenio Live''. He finished the show in September 2021 in order to focus on other projects, leaving his activity in YouTube to his secondary podcast ''La Estirpe de los Libres''.

Political views

When asked about his ideology in 2015, Jiménez stated, "yes, I'm an

anti-establishment An anti-establishment view or belief is one which stands in opposition to the conventional social, political, and economic principles of a society. The term was first used in the modern sense in 1958, by the British magazine '' New Statesman' ...

, like Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente. I'm not saying this in a political sense. I consider myself

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

in everything." He also described himself as believing on individual merit over

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * '' Our ...

and parasitism. In 2020, he stated further, "I belong to nobody, I'm not a member of any

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

, any

flag A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design emp ...

or any

trend A fad or trend is any form of collective behavior that develops within a culture, a generation or social group in which a group of people enthusiastically follow an impulse for a short period. Fads are objects or behaviors that achieve short- ...

, in fact I can see positive things in both sides." Similarly, he felt himself targeted by both the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

and

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this pos ...

for his mediatic role during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

in Spain. In an article published in 2020, journalist

Antonio Maestre Antonio Maestre Hernández (born 1979) is a Spanish journalist and documentalist. Biography Born in 1979 in Getafe (a suburb of Madrid), he was however raised in neighbouring Fuenlabrada, where he currently lives. Maestre earned a degree in Do ...

accused Jiménez of being an " anti-Marxist" and having become a "guru to the far right in Spain" through his work while embracing a "deideologized" profile as TV host. Jiménez answered enumerating inaccuracies in Maestre's article, while the resultant controversy saw Maestre both being supported and attracting his own critiques, including from other journalists. Also in 2020, Jiménez stated that, due to his work in ''Horizonte'' about the COVID-19 pandemic, he had been attacked in social media by pandemic conspiracy theorists, some of them being former followers of his. He replied to those views, stating, "I must have done something wrong for many years. Firstly so as not to be believed. To be thought a traitor. Secondly so as not to know how make understand that this is not a joke and that unfortunately the pandemic is real and quite uncontrollable." He later further criticized them, describing them as "the greatest blunder ever".

Works

In 1999 he wrote ''Enigmas sin resolver''. He is also the author of ''El paraíso maldito'' (2000), ''Enigmas sin Resolver II'' (2000), ''Camposanto'' (2005) based on

Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Bosch (, ; born Jheronimus van Aken ; – 9 August 1516) was a Dutch/ Netherlandish painter from Brabant. He is one of the most notable representatives of the Early Netherlandish painting school. His work, generally oil on o ...

's life, ''Fronteras de lo imposible'', ''Encuentro'' and ''Milenio 3: El libro'' (2006).

Notable television works

*''La noche del fin del mundo'' (director of that documentary about the

Chernobyl disaster The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 nuclear reactor, reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainia ...

) *''El Síndrome'' (documentary about the 1981

toxic oil syndrome Toxic oil syndrome (TOS) or simply toxic syndrome (Spanish: ''síndrome del aceite tóxico'' or ''síndrome tóxico'') is a musculoskeletal disease. A 1981 outbreak in Spain which affected about 20,000 people, with over 300 dying within a few mo ...

)

Professional activity

Radio

* ''Milenio 3'' (2002-2015),

. * ''Universo Iker'' (2015-presente), Radioset.

Television

* ''

'' (2005–present),

. * ''Cuarto Milenio Zoom'' (2016-2017), Cuatro. * '' Horizonte'' (2020–present),

and later Cuatro.

Internet

* ''Milenio Live'' (2018-2021),

and Mtmad. * ''La Estirpe de los Libres'' (2020–present),

Awards

In 2004, Jiménez was awarded the

Antena de Oro The Antena de Oro awards, created in 1962, are awarded annually by the Federation of Radio and Television Associations of Spain to the most outstanding professionals in the field of the audiovisual industry. The jury that decides the awards is m ...

, given by the Federation of Radio and Television Associations of Spain to the most outstanding professionals in the field of the audiovisual industry, for his radio program ''Milenio 3''. Also in 2004, he was given the Award to the Best Journalist by the Association of Victims of

11-M The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11M) were a series of coordinated, nearly simultaneous bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004—three days before Spain's g ...

. Two years later, Jiménez was voted Televisive Personality of the Year with 43,5% of the voting in

Grupo Vocento Vocento, S.A., also known as Grupo Vocento, is a Spanish mass media group. Its flagship daily newspaper is the conservative and monarchist ''ABC'', also publishing ''El Correo''. Vocento was created in 2001 upon the merger of Grupo Correo with , ...

, the leading multimedia communications group in Spain. In 2007 and 2008, he was respectively awarded the 10th Trufa de Oro, granted by the union of radio broadcasting stations of Vitoria, and the

Arias Montano Benito Arias Montano (or Benedictus Arias Montanus; 1527–1598) was a Spanish orientalist and polymath that was active mostly in Spain. He was also editor of the '' Antwerp Polyglot''. He reached the high rank of Royal Chaplain to King Philip II ...

Communication Award, also given to his collaborators Carmen Porter and

Javier Sierra Javier Sierra Albert (born 11 August 1971 in Teruel, Aragon, Spain) is a journalist, writer and researcher who studied journalism at the Complutense University of Madrid. Biography In 1989, being 12 years old, he hosted the radio programme Rad ...

. 2010 saw Jiménez being handed the Insignia de Plata by the Spanish Society of Criminology and

Forensic Sciences Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal ...

(SECCIF), along with Feliciano Trebolle, president of the Provincial Audience of

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peo ...

. Jiménez won again the Antena de Oro for his work in ''Cuarto Milenio'' in 2015, the same year he was also awarded with the

for "his work as presenter, communicator and director". After three years, he would receive the Medal of Professional Merit in the Congress of Applied Criminalistics I in

Noia Noia () is a town and municipality in the autonomous community of Galicia in northwestern Spain. It is the capital of the comarca with the same name. It has a population of 14,947 inhabitants (2010),Rare Diseases A rare disease is any disease that affects a small percentage of the population. In some parts of the world, an orphan disease is a rare disease whose rarity means there is a lack of a market large enough to gain support and resources for discove ...

by the

Hospital Clínico San Carlos The Hospital Clínico San Carlos is a hospital located at the Ciudad Universitaria neighborhood in Madrid, Spain, part of hospital network of the Servicio Madrileño de Salud (SERMAS). It is one of the healthcare institutions associated to the Co ...

of Madrid. In 2019, he was awarded the Gran Cruz de las Víctimas del Terrorismo, by the Historical Association of the

Civil Guard Civil Guard refers to various policing organisations: Current * Civil Guard (Spain), Spanish gendarmerie * Civil Guard (Israel), Israeli volunteer police reserve * Civil Guard (Brazil), Municipal law enforcement corporations in Brazil Histori ...

, for his work in ''Cuarto Milenio''. The following year, Jiménez was gifted a Medal of Police Merit by Jesús Montero from the

National Police Corps The National Police Corps ( es, Cuerpo Nacional de Policía, link=no, CNP; ; also known simply as National Police, ) is the national civilian police force of Spain. The CNP is mainly responsible for policing urban areas, whilst rural policing ...

by his communicative work during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Spain The COVID-19 pandemic in Spain has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Spain on 31 January 2020, when a German tourist tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in La Gomera, Canary Island ...

. He was also awarded the Independent Award of Communication and Television by the Unión por Leganés. Also for his work in the pandemic, Jiménez received in 2021 the Honor Award to the Best TV and Radio Communicator by Fundación Gala. ''Horizonte'' would earn him the Gran Cruz a la Solidaridad COVID-19 of the Civil Guard and Jiménez's third Antena de Oro, coinciding with him winning the Arturo Duperier Award also in 2022.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jimenez, Iker 1973 births Living people 21st-century Spanish journalists Spanish radio journalists Ufologists Complutense University of Madrid alumni Spanish television presenters Video bloggers Male essayists Spanish essayists Paranormal investigators People from Vitoria-Gasteiz Spanish conspiracy theorists Spanish radio personalities Spanish radio people Basque journalists 20th-century Spanish journalists Spanish journalists