MIAMI, Fla. — “First and foremost, I want to make sure I make my community proud, and I do that by making sure I stick to my principles as a journalist — something that I learned and honed here in South Florida. It was so special to come from this community.”
He’s a familiar face to many in South Florida. Tom Llamas grew up here — it’s where he discovered his passion for journalism, and where it all began.
WATCH BELOW: Janny Rodriguez's full interview with Tom Llamas in Miami
“It’s the honor of a lifetime, and every day I go in there hoping — and I know this, but I want to make sure the viewers know this — that we’re working for them. That means to report the news without fear or favor and to be tough but fair. I didn’t write those principles of journalism, but I live by them, and it’s something I learned here in South Florida.”
The son of Cuban immigrants, Llamas told me his love for news started at home.
“We watched a lot of news in both English and Spanish growing up. We were an NBC family, but then we would watch Telemundo because my parents wanted to get news out of Cuba and South America. So I always watched news in both languages my whole life, and it’s helped me to this day.”
And it’s the values his parents taught him that helped shape who he is.
“My parents came here with no money. They didn’t speak the language. They worked really hard. They followed all the laws — and their son is able to now become the anchor of Nightly News. I worked very hard, but I learned that hard work from them and from the Cuban-American community here.”
Now, Llamas is taking that commitment to a much bigger stage.
“The way I look at Nightly News is, I split it up into three parts: I want to make sure we inform you, I want to make sure we empower you with investigations and news you can use, and then at the end I hope we inspire you. There’s good news tonight — I want to leave you on a good note.”
