Student Journalist Awarded by CBS Condemns Network's Shift Right at News Emmys

https://truthout.org/articles/student-journalist-awarded-by-cbs-condemns-networks-shift-right-at-news-emmys/

Student Journalist Awarded by CBS Condemns Network’s Shift Right at News Emmys

“Journalism that serves the people becomes increasingly harder to come by, yet ever more crucial,” said Santiago Campos.

By Shireen Akram-Boshar , TRUTHOUT
Published May 28, 2026

Student journalist Santiago Campos condemned CBS News for its rightward shift under the network’s new management in an acceptance speech for the Mike Wallace Memorial Scholarship in New York City on Wednesday night.

“While I want to thank CBS News for funding this generous gift towards my education, I want to also acknowledge how the recent direction of the outlet stains the legacy of Mike Wallace, the namesake of this scholarship,” Campos said in his speech at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards, to loud applause.

Campos, a high school senior in Washington, D.C., won the $10,000 scholarship for a submission on the U.S.’s immigration crackdowns, featuring a story from his own family. In 2025, Campos produced a documentary, “My Family’s Deportation Story” as a student journalist with PBS News Student Reporting Labs. He has also written about U.S. administrations’ mass deportation policies and the deportations of his family members in Teen Vogue.

“As corporate elites take hold over the very pipes through which our information flows, journalism that serves the people becomes increasingly harder to come by, yet ever more crucial. And what the people want is the truth,” Campos continued. “So if at any time you hesitate to utter the word genocide, or remain silent in the face of blatant lies, remember to ask yourself, who is this for? I hope you choose us,” he concluded.

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