Tuning back in to cable news' Rick Sanchez
To liberals who bristle at being called racist, that probably sounded ungrateful. To Latinos, it sounded like honesty.
Out of work, Sanchez moved back to his hometown of Miami. There, he hustled to support his family by cobbling together jobs in television and radio. Then he did something totally different: He helped start what became a multimillion-dollar health care company.
Now he's back in front of the camera. With a new financial independence, and the confidence that comes from not caring if you fail, he hosts a nightly newscast for RT America. And while Sanchez was always good -- watchable, relatable, plainspoken -- he is now even better. Comfortable in his own skin, he approaches every segment like someone who understands that fame doesn't last.
I asked what he learned from his wild ride.
"My own value," he said. "Nothing beats a proper assessment of what we do and don't do well. And we learn it best when our backs are up against the wall, when we have to scrape and battle to try and remake ourselves."
These days, Sanchez seems primed for battle.
Ask about "fake news," and he'll say: "It's a stupid, overused phrase that means nothing. It's a bludgeoning tool used by morons to mean 'I don't like what you said.'"
Ask him whether his new show is news or opinion, and he'll fire back with: "All news is both. Anyone who says different is a liar or a robot."
Ask for his recipe for good TV, and you get: "Be fair and understand that nobody is better than you -- just like you're not better than anyone else."
It turns out that, to be good in media, it helps to spend time out of media. While television can make you famous, it can also make you lose the ability to relate to viewers.
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