By Kevin Greer
Lakeside Communications Manager
John Quiñones, veteran ABC News reporter and creator of the popular hidden-camera series “What Would You Do?” will kick off Lakeside’s Keynote Speaker Series on Thursday, July 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Hoover Auditorium.
Quiñones has been with ABC News for over 30 years and has reported for every news show at the network, including “World News Tonight,” “20/20,” “Primetime” and “Good Morning America.” He has won numerous awards for his reporting, including seven national Emmys.
It will be Quiñones’ first trip to Lakeside, and he likes what he has seen through his research of the community.
“It looks wonderful,” Quiñones said. “I’m looking forward to my visit. I’ve never been to that part of the world, and I’ve been everywhere. Rest assured, we won’t be doing any filming while I’m there.”
Quiñones took a few minutes from his busy schedule to do an interview with The Lakesider newspaper to talk about the humble beginnings of his career, how he came up with the idea of “What Would You Do,” and the emotions of covering the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Is being a journalist something that you always wanted to do?
Quiñones: Yes. Ever since I was a kid growing up in San Antonio, I loved broadcast radio. I had a little transistor radio, and I dreamed of someday leaving San Antonio and traveling the world. I was a big fan of Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw. Geraldo Rivera was the only Latino on national television back then. I was the chief of editorials at my high school newspaper, the Brackenridge Times.
Does the term “news junkie” describe you?
Quiñones: I can’t go anywhere without wanting to know what’s going on. As soon as a big story breaks, I want to go cover that story. I don’t jump on breaking news so much these days, but there’s an instinct there. Yeah, I am a news junkie.
What were your duties at your internship at the country station in San Antonio.
Quiñones: It was KKYX, Kicks. I did not like country music growing up, but I grew to like it. It paid $2 an hour, and I worked inside the broadcast studio. Outside, the DJs had horses in the back of the station they would use in public appearances, rodeos and parades. Part of my job was to clean horse poop in the back and pile it up on a corner. I mean, talk about starting from the bottom.
That’s my advice to kids, do whatever you have to do to get your foot in the door. At night at that station, I got to go into the studio, practice my delivery and slow down my rapid-fire speech. I grew up speaking Spanish, so I had to learn to enunciate. I wouldn’t have gotten a job if I hadn’t perfected my English pronunciations, and that’s what I did. That’s what that station did for me.
How much of an advantage is it to be bilingual as a journalist?
Quiñones: It’s tremendous. I got to do stories that I could do better than anyone, particularly in Latin America. My first story at the CBS station in Chicago was about illegal immigration. I convinced my news director for me to go undercover in Mexico and pose as a Mexican immigrant trying to get to the U.S. I fit the part. I went there and found a smuggler. He sold me a fake security card and a fake birth certificate and put me on an inner tube. I floated across the Rio Grande, all captured on hidden camera. I wanted to see what it’s like for an immigrant to be so desperate to come to this country and get a job for very little money.
I went undercover at a Chicago restaurant where the owner had seven undocumented Mexican workers, and he had not paid them in 17 weeks. Every time they complained, he would say, “You get to sleep in the basement, you get to eat here. If you keep complaining, I’ll call Immigration and have you deported.” I went there pretending to be a newly arrived immigrant from Mexico and he hired me as the dishwasher. By day, I’m washing dishes, and then at night, I’m in the basement with the other workers. They must have been really surprised, because I pulled out a little camera and I started interviewing them about their lives, and through tears, they explained how they were being held against their will. One day, I came back speaking fluent English with a camera crew behind me. I remember we had to chase the owner through the parking lot. The day after my story aired, the U.S. government moved in and shut down the restaurant, arrested the owner and gave workers the money they were owed and temporary visas to remain here.
I knew then there were tons of stories that I could tell better than perhaps anyone as a Hispanic. That story won an Emmy Award, and ABC News called to offer me a job. I was based in Miami and was covering Latin America, because ABC wanted someone who could speak Spanish to communicate with soldiers in Nicaragua. My dream came true, but in large part because I spoke Spanish.
How did you come up with the idea for “What Would You Do?”
Quiñones: We wanted to hold up a mirror to America to find out how you unlock the light that exists in each one of us, so that we’re all better equipped to say, “That’s wrong,” or “How can I help?” What better way to do that with than an age old tool used by journalists for years? Hidden cameras on national television.
I read a column called “The Ethicist,” which is still in The New York Times, where the writer talked about, what do you do? One was about a new father at the playground who notices the babysitters ignoring the kids. They’re on FaceTime, their computers or social media. Meanwhile, the kid could be in danger. His question was, “How do we tell the nanny that she is doing a terrible job?” That was our very first “What Would You Do?” scenario. We said, “Wow, we can do better than that. We can create the situation.” In New York, we ran that experiment, and it was very successful. The executives liked it and said, “Can you do more?” It’s been 17 years, and we start filming a new season this summer. We use seven hidden cameras and two cameras out in the open.
Are there instances when one of the actors opted out?
Quiñones: Often, they’ll be in tears. Movie actors play off each other’s lines. With our show, they have to play off what a person, who is not an actor, might say to them. In the meantime, I’m telling them what to say through their earpiece. I’m in the safety room, and they’re right in the middle of it. Their concern is, “What if I get punched?” We have to be careful, and we are. We also have a security person sitting there in the action if I can’t get there fast enough. It’s tough, but most of the actors are so great and they power through.
Talk about covering the Uvalde tragedy.
Quiñones: I worked with María Elena Salinas and I co-authored a book with her about it. The president of ABC said we are not going to leave and we stayed for a year. This story was so heart-wrenching and only an hour away from where I grew up. Most of the students were Mexican-American, so it was very personal for me. Together, a team of ABC people were assigned to open an office in Uvalde and stay on top of that story, find out what the police officers did wrong. What happens when the cameras leave? Usually, we go in for two or three weeks, and then we move on to the next story, and often those communities are forgotten. I owe so much, and the world owes so much to ABC News for making a commitment to spend a whole year there and staying on top of that. We did five documentaries and some won Emmy Awards. We got to know the families and gave them a voice, and I’m prouder of that then the awards
How are you a trailblazer?
Quiñones: As one of the first Latino reporters on national television, I don’t take that lightly. I was told I wasn’t television material. I had a nice voice, I was a good reporter, but I just didn’t give up. If that’s trailblazing and I can inspire young people to dream bigger dreams, then I’m OK with that title.
