When CNN anchor Boris Sanchez spoke with National Press Foundation Widening the Pipeline fellows in 2024, his central message was that journalists must find the “why” for their careers. Sanchez outlined his family’s journey from Cuba to the U.S. when he was three years old, and articulated the career path he traveled to gain the privilege of telling stories and holding the powerful to account. His grandfather had been arrested in Cuba for doing exactly that.
A year later, the stakes are much higher and have Sanchez thinking more deeply about how journalists must not only find their why, but stay centered in it. “There’s a period of reorientation and reformation for a lot of news organizations. And there’s a lot of uncertainty given so many of the changes that have come to our politics as well, and how the relationship between government and news outlets and journalism might change in the future.”
On Feb. 20, Sanchez spoke with NPF’s 2025 Widening the Pipeline fellows about how to deal with a fast-evolving news environment and how to not let emotions impede on your reporting.
3 Key takeaways:
1. Take this period of uncertainty as an opportunity
“Being able to capture the winds in the direction that they’re blowing represents, especially for younger journalists, a chance to rise very quickly,” Sanchez said.
With the transitioning of administrations and ever-evolving news, career challenges may be daunting, but the turbulence can help journalists figure out where they want to be.
“This problem, this obstacle, this challenge is a gift,” Sanchez said.
2. You can fact-check people, but put emotions aside
“Those emotions end where the job begins. And that’s hard, but it’s something I think you have to practice and learn over time,” Sanchez said.
Allowing personal feelings into reporting may contribute to some of the confusion for audiences, Sanchez said.
“I realize that that emotional reaction is partly the reason that that misinformation is being put out there the way that it is,” he said. “It’s much better to be stoic and sort of just let them talk, let them talk, and then wait, and then answer with something much more substantive.”
Sanchez offered the best line of defense.
“Present the facts, present the facts, present the facts,” he said.
“The process itself should be almost sacred in the sense that I can’t allow these other things to interfere with what I’m doing, whether it’s emotions, whether it’s pressures, whether it’s a tweet or an email,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez also advised that aside from leaving emotions out of reporting, journalists must have a functioning social life, too. But it’s not easy: he’s lost friendships due to his job.
“You need to be able to disconnect yourself from it,” he said.
3. His advice on how to maintain your ‘why’ while covering tragedy
Reporting on tragedy can actually help those mourning, Sanchez said.
“As you try to understand who their loved one was, as you try to gather information about them so you can share the significance of this moment with the world, you recognize that by them actually articulating these things, it helps the process of mourning,” he said.
And while tragedy is necessary to cover, Sanchez recommends balancing everything out by reporting on lighthearted stories, too.
“Finding joy and finding comfort in that is also an antidote to the sort of crushing moments,” Sanchez said.
Access the full transcript here.
This fellowship is funded by the Evelyn Y. Davis Foundation and the John C. and Ethel C. Eklund Scholarship Fund. NPF is solely responsible for the content.
