Daniel Coronell is a fighter for freedom of expression. He was born about 43 years ago in Colombia, South America, and still lives there (2008). He is a journalist who is the owner and director of a TV news program called Noticias Uno. He also writes a column in a weekly news magazine called Semana. It is published in Spanish. Mr. Coronell has a beautiful wife, Maria Cristina, who is also a TV journalist, and two children: a girl and a boy. Daniel has also been a teacher at different universities, including one in the United States. He graduated from Rosario, a boys’ prep school in Bogota, the Colombian capital. Then he studied journalism and communications at Externado University in the same city. After graduation, Mr. Coronell began working in his favorite job.
Over the years Daniel has had many ups and downs at work. That’s because he likes to report news that is true or, at least, news that will help people to think about their country and the things that happen in it. Daniel has made some enemies because they don’t like what he says or the way he works. Daniel believes that the “duty of the journalist isn’t to concern her or himself with being popular but with the truth.”
In 2005 Daniel and his small family left Colombia for 2 years because of threats against his life and his family. To make a threat against somebody’s life, you have to be a bad person I’m sure you’ll agree. For example, Daniel received some funeral wreaths (flowers) with the names of his family on them. He received some bad emails too, among other things. Some people said he received at least one cow’s head that had been chopped off. Daniel and his family lived in California, USA, for about 2 years. He was able to make some friends there. He taught some classes at the University of California. He also studied at another university called Stanford.
Daniel and his family later returned to his country again. It is green and mountainous. He was determined to continue his fight for freedom of expression. In 2007 he received his country’s national journalistic award called Simon Bolivar. People like Daniel are brave and help to make our lives and countries better. When freedom of expression is forbidden in a country, terrible things start to happen to its citizens. There are many examples of those things in history that you can read about when you wish. Thank you for reading.
