Telemundo has announced that evp of news Patsy Loris will become the No. 1 executive at Telemundo News, effective Jan. 1, 2022. Telemundo News president Luis Fernández will retire from Telemundo at the end of the year after nearly five decades in media, the last six years leading the network’s news division.
Loris will still hold the “executive vice president of news” title.
“Patsy is an experienced news leader and has made significant impact in our organization by strengthening Noticias Telemundo’s position as the leading Spanish-language news organization covering politics across all platforms,” Telemundo Enterprises chairman Beau Ferrari said in a statement. “With three decades of news leadership, she is a highly regarded executive who will continue to grow our news properties, strengthen our news gathering operations and develop our news talent with a clear focus on serving our community with the news and information they need and expect every day.”
Currently the No. 2 executive at Telemundo’s news division, Loris led the network’s coverage of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as coverage of the Presidential Inauguration and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Earlier this year she spearheaded the development and launch of the network’s morning show hoyDía with an enhanced hard-news format. Loris has also overseen special news programming, including a series of live primetime news specials on the coronavirus pandemic.
Loris joined Telemundo as svp of elections and special projects in July 2019. She came to Telemundo from rival Univision where, as evp of news and executive news director, she was responsible for the network’s morning show ¡Despierta América!, daily entertainment and news magazine shows and all network news programs—including digital, evening, late night, weekend and political affairs content.
And under the leadership of Fernández, Noticias Telemundo has significantly expanded its news programming, launching new shows including Noticias Telemundo Mediodía and Noticias Telemundo at 11:35 p.m., as well as new franchises such as Telemundo Investiga and Telemundo Planeta Tierra, the first-and-only environmental reporting unit in Spanish-language television news.
Most recently, Fernández oversaw the revamp of the network’s morning show hoyDía, and expanded network collaborations with the NBCUniversal News Group. He also extended the Noticias Telemundo brand to reach new audiences through new formats by launching a series of investigative podcasts, Radar 2021—a digital English-language news and commentary show—and Axios Latino, a first-ever newsletter produced in partnership with Axios.
Luis Fernandez
“Luis has been the driving force behind the growth of Telemundo network’s news properties and Noticias Telemundo’s positioning as one of the most respected news brands in the industry,” added Ferrari. “He has been a transformative leader and a great partner in helping Telemundo fulfill its vision to be the choice and voice of Latinos around the world. Having built an extraordinary news team, he leaves Noticias Telemundo in the hands of one of the industry’s most talented news professionals.”