Luis Ramiro Beltrán Salmon, Ph.D.
Journalist and Scholar
Luis Ramiro Beltrán Salmon is acknowledged as one of the founding fathers of critical communication research and is a leading member of the Latin American Critical Schools of Communication. Luis began his career at age 12 as a journalist for La Patria in Oruro, Bolivia, and became the paper’s editor by 16. He has held various jobs in the news media, including a position at La Razón of La Paz, which was the first newspaper in Latin America to receive the Maria Moors Cabor Award honoring young journalists. La Razon was the first modern daily in Bolivia until its publication was impeded due to the nationalist revolution in 1952. Luis became Bolivia’s first film script writer when he wrote the script for Vuelve Sebastiana, a documentary work on one of the most ancient living cultures of Latin America: the Chipayas of Oruro. Produced by the Bolivia Films and directed by the outstanding director Jorge Ruiz, this anthropological film was soon to earn national and international awards that made it Bolivia’s foremost film.
Beltrán directed news programming at one of the main radio stations in La Paz, Radio El Cóndor, and has served as a correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. Luis has published widely, taught at Ohio State University, Michigan State University, Stanford University as well as at other schools across the globe, served as a communications consultant in the United States and in every Latin American country and earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Luis is the recipient of numerous awards, including the McLuhan-Teleglobe Canada Award, El Cóndor de Los Andes, Diablo de Oro, Ecuador’s National Award for Playwriting, plus many others.
