Cecilia Alvear

Latina television news journalist

Cecilia Alvear (November 5, 1939 – April 21, 2017) was an Ecuadorian born American journalist in television news and the former president of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, as well as a field producer with NBC Network News in Burbank, California.

She was the network's Mexico City Bureau Chief from 1982 until 1984, the first Latina to serve in that position, when she was transferred to Miami to serve as the Senior Producer for Latin America. In 1989 she was assigned to the West Coast. As a producer Alvear covered many major news stories; among them, the wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua in the 1980s, the Mexico City earthquake in 1985, protests and elections in Chile and Peru, the War on Drugs in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia, the Mengele investigation in Brazil, unrest in Panama, two interviews with Fidel Castro in Cuba, one of the first organizations of Latino journalists. She was honored for her pioneering efforts on behalf of CCNMA at their 1996 Scholarship dinner. Alvear was a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists since the 1980s. She participated in the annual convention as a panelist, speaker and/or recruiter for NBC News. Alvear was elected Vice President Broadcast in 1996 and represented NAHJ on the Board of the Radio Television News Directors Association. In 2000, she was elected to a two year term as President of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. That same year, she made the Hispanic Business list of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the U. S. In 1995 and 1996, Alvear was Editor at Large of Si, a short lived magazine depicting the Latino experience in the U. S.

In 1988 Cecilia Alvear was one of twelve American journalists chosen for the prestigious Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University where she spent the academic year 1988–89. Alvear was the first Latina to receive the award.