Fellowship Year:
1986-1987

Host University:
Boston University

World Region:
Western Hemisphere

Country:
Chile

Bernardo de la Maza - Chile

Prior to his Humphrey Fellowship in 1986, Bernardo de la Maza was the international editor and commentator for the television station Channel 13 in Chile. At the time, Chile was in the waning years of the regime of General Augusto Pinochet, the leader of the military junta that took control of the country in 1973. After a decade of authoritarian rule marked by strict government control of the media, the Pinochet regime began to allow greater freedom of the press in the mid-80s.

In light of the changing nature of the media in Chile, de la Maza felt it was imperative that he gain a greater understanding of how a free press operated. He believed that the Humphrey Fellowship could expand his knowledge of international relations and political science, while allowing him to see firsthand how American television networks functioned.

“I had the responsibility to leave behind the journalism from the dictatorship and adopt a new kind of journalism, one that was appropriate to a democratic system,” notes de la Maza. “We had a new objective; plural and impartial journalism, which was accepted by all political sectors in the country.”

Even though de la Maza had visited the U.S. as a journalist and toured many other countries, he still experienced a certain degree of culture shock when he arrived at Boston University (BU) in Boston, Massachusetts. However, the libraries at the university and his professors’ willingness to help impressed de la Maza. He was also fascinated by the large number of Nobel Prize winners in Boston and the easy access to their lectures in the city.

At BU, de la Maza studied journalism, international relations and political science. Because of his professor’s contacts, he was also able to work at the ABC station in Boston and later visited the ABC headquarters in New York City, where he met with news anchors and producers. He also had the opportunity to visit the headquarters of CNN in Atlanta, Georgia.

Since his fellowship, de la Maza has received many awards for his work as a journalist in Chile. In 1990, he was named press director of Televisión Nacional (National Television), the largest and most important television station in Chile at the time. While in that position, he was in charge of the changes the station made when Pinochet’s dictatorship transitioned to a democracy. Today, de la Maza is the news anchor for Mega TV Station in Chile.

"My time in the U.S. was an experience that deeply changed my life in a positive way,” says de la Maza of his Humphrey Fellowship. “This scholarship allowed me to become one of the most prominent journalists in my country."