Diego Carcedo, the International President of the Association of European Journalists (AEJ) and its Spanish branch (APE), was born in Cangas de Onís (Asturias, Spain).
After graduating in media studies and journalism, he worked all over the world as a journalist for a number of media outlets. He then took up several executive positions with RTVE (Radiotelevisión Española), first as the head of TVE’s news services, then as the Managing Director of International Relations for RTVE, and finally as the head of RNE (Radio Nacional de España).
After completing his degree in journalism, he took a job on the news desk at the Oviedo newspaper La Nueva España, moving a few months later to the now-defunct Agencia Pyresa, where he worked as an editor and roving reporter.
In 1975 he joined TVE as a news editor and special correspondent, forming part of the Los Reporteros team and working for a year as the programme’s executive editor. During his time on the programme he covered more than one hundred events around the world, including the last days of the Vietnam War, the conflicts in central America and the Middle East, the Coronation Revolution in Portugal and the Pinochet coup in Chile.
He has held countless other executive positions during his professional career: chief North America correspondent for TVE (1984-1988); New York correspondent for the Agencia EFE news agency; member of the board of directors of RTVE (appointed by the Spanish Senate in 1996 and 2000); President of the Association of Foreign Correspondents in Portugal; executive committee member of the United Nations Correspondents Association; vice-president of the Latin American Television Organisation; President of the International News Service; a member of the board of the European Broadcasting Union; member of the board of directors of Tele Expo; and founding director of the European news channel EURONEWS, etc.
During the course of his journalistic career he has interviewed more than 30 monarchs, presidents, heads of government and other leading international figures. His reports have also been broadcast on TV stations across the world.
In addition to his continuing work as a journalist, editor, columnist and television and radio panellist, he is also a lecturer in media and international relations and a prolific writer and conference speaker.
He has written the books Fusiles y Claveles (an account of the Portuguese Revolution); Un español frente al Holocausto; 23 F: Los cabos sueltos; El ‘Schindler’ de la Guerra Civil; Sáenz de Santa María: El general que cambió de bando; and Neruda y el barco de la esperanza.
Throughout his career he has won many awards including the Cáceres Journalism Award, the City of Oviedo Award, the Ondas Radio Award and the Cirilo Rodríguez Award for best foreign correspondent.
++ Interview Diego CARCEDO
