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, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend ...

. He was also a

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (periodical), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the ...

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 TV, radio, and Internet news program based in Manhattan and hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live ...

'' 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 occupatio ...

Early life

González was born on October 15, 1947, in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and Florinda Rivera de González. González was raised in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the eas ...

and

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. After a period as editor of his high school newspaper, the ''Lane Reporter'', González attended Columbia College and graduated in 1968. At Columbia College he was active in the

anti-Vietnam War movement Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War began in 1965 with demonstrations against the escalating role of the United States in the war. Over the next several years, these demonstrations grew into a social movement which was ...

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 Eugene Galanter (1924–2016) was one of the modern founders of cognitive psychology. He was an academic in the field of experimental psychology and an author. Dr. Galanter was Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Quondam Director of the Psychophy ...

. 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 a ...

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), were a left-wing political organization that originally developed from a Chicago street gang. With major branches in Chicago and New York City, they were known for their direct act ...

, 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 voters.

Journalism career

After just a couple of weeks into studying journalism at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

, González's instructor encouraged him to apply for a post at the instructor's other workplace the ''

Philadelphia Daily News ''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', a daily newspaper in Philadelphia. The ''Dail ...

''. 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 publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

''. 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, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...

. 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 appr ...

, 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 City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

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

health effects arising from the September 11 attacks Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, pain ...

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 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. 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 organi ...

, and, in 2011, won the

a second time for a series of columns in the ''

New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...

'' which exposed criminal acts connected with then-Mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

’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 Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

in the opening montage of New Orleans at the beginning of the action-drama film '' Streets of Blood'' (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 The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...

inducted González into its New York Journalism Hall of Fame, along with

Max Frankel Max Frankel (April 3, 1930 – March 23, 2025) was an American journalist who was executive editor of ''The New York Times'' from 1986 to 1994. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for his coverage of Richard Nixon's visit to China. He also brought ...

Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show ''Charlie Rose (talk show), Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg L.P., Bloombe ...

Lesley Stahl Lesley Rene Stahl (born December 16, 1941) is an American television journalist. She has spent most of her career with CBS News, where she began as a producer in 1971. Since 1991, she has reported for CBS's ''60 Minutes''. She is known for her ne ...

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

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

'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 Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...

and government officials with regard to health hazards at

Ground Zero A hypocenter or hypocentre (), also called ground zero or surface zero, is the point on the Earth's surface directly below a nuclear explosion, meteor air burst, or other mid-air explosion. In seismology, the hypocenter of an earthquake is its p ...

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 Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who was the List of mayors of New York City, 109th mayor of New York City, mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of t ...

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