Hugo Balta has been named news director at WTTW, the PBS station in Chicago.
He starts the new role on Monday, February 3, 2020.
He’ll be in charge of leading, planning, reporting, producing, and editing news content and engagement across all platforms and will serve as executive producer of WTTW’s flagship news program Chicago Tonight.
He’ll report to President & CEO Sandra Cordova Micek.
Balta was most recently senior producer at MSNBC, overseeing editorial and production of live television shows, and was a member of the NBC/MSNBC Editorial Board. He left the position in December.
Balta has also held production and editorial leadership positions at ESPN, Telemundo, WCSB‐TV in New York and WTVJ‐TV in Miami.
Great news for WTTW. Hugo is an empathetic, enthusiastic leader who has real passion for his craft. Kudos to PBS!! He also cares about fairness and he has been an active voice in the Hispanic journalistic community of the U-S.
He’s been successful at utilizing his presidency at NAHJ to promote his career and his businesses. NAHJ continues to have low membership, ESPN did not renew his contract because he did little or nothing for them except for being their Diversity Poster Child, didn’t do much at MSNBC (a cable news network with not even a million viewers daily). He has interfered or blocked other successful Latino media executives from jobs or promotions or from doing business with English language stations and networks. Has also blocked a few highly talented folks from participating in significant roles with NAHJ and Hispanizice.
He “defended the honor” of his guest during an NAHJ convention, just to find out later that his guest, former VP of Fox Latino Francisco Cortes, was fired due to Sexual Harassment allegations.
The best part is that he has never lived or worked in Chicago, and that’s a market that values being local. This guy is good at selling himself. Too bad he’s working for such a reputable organization. A sad day for WTTW.