Luis Botello
Panama | Deputy Vice President of New Initiatives and Impact, International Center for Journalists
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As the Deputy Vice President of New Initiatives and Impact, Luis Botello helps develop and oversee ICFJ’s investigative reporting initiatives and ICFJ’s monitoring and evaluation systems to maximize program impact around the world. Botello works directly with funders to design new projects and proposals.
He worked for 10 years as ICFJ’s Latin American program director and launched ICFJ’s International Journalism Network(IJNet), an online media assistance news service. Under his leadership, ICFJ became the premier journalism organization in Latin America working in more than 20 countries in the region. He conducts a variety of training programs and conferences on digital media, mobile technology, ethics, press freedom and media development.
Botello is a regular international media analyst for major news networks such as CNN en Español, NTN 24 and Voice of America. An award-winning journalist, Botello previously served as morning newscast producer, host and television reporter for Televisora Nacional in his native Panama, where he covered assignments in Colombia, the United States and Europe. Botello also covered U.S. military operations in Latin America and political and labor issues in Panama.
He developed a sense of mission to promote high quality in-depth reporting when his work led to government threats because of his reporting. After facing those challenges working in Latin America, Botello became a strong advocate for press freedom and high standards in journalism leading him to a long career at ICFJ supporting journalism that holds governments accountable.
Botello is a member of the board of directors of the Fund for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin and the Latin American Journalism Center (CELAP) in Panama City, Panama. He has taught at American University in Washington, D.C. He is a Fulbright Scholarship recipient. Botello also received a fellowship to Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communication. He has a B.A. in journalism and a M.A. in mass communications from Louisiana State University (LSU).
Botello was an event speaker at the Dialogue.
