After Santiago Campos stepped offstage at the News Emmy Awards in New York in May, fresh from a speech criticizing CBS News and issuing a call to action for journalists , the Mike Wallace Scholarship winner was introduced to reporters, producers, news personalities and other prominent journalists. Some wanted to interview him. Others talked to him about potential internships. Even a reporter from Playboy wanted to talk.
“That was too funny not to do,” Campos said. He was only “very slightly familiar” with Playboy.
His mom, Elizabeth Reavley, scanned the crowd for ABC News anchor David Muir. Campos didn’t know who that was.
He did know Johnny Harris . Campos was thrilled to meet the independent journalist, who has nearly 8 million followers on YouTube.
A few months removed from his viral moment, the 18-year-old Campos has turned his attention to his freshman year at Georgetown University. He’ll major in international politics and minor in journalism, supported in part by the $10,000 Mike Wallace Scholarship from CBS News and a $20,000 award over four years from the National Press Club.
His unlikely path
What almost nobody in that room knew was that Campos once struggled to speak to adults at all. As a child, he was diagnosed with selective mutism, an anxiety disorder that made it difficult for him to talk outside of his immediate family. He began working with social workers in third and fourth grade.
“I had this huge social anxiety when it came to speaking,” he said. “It’s a fear you have in your mind that isn’t entirely valid. You mostly grow out of it, but you definitely need a specialist to help.”
The idea that Campos would stand on a stage and deliver a speech challenging journalists to tell the truth and serve the public would once have seemed unimaginable.
“I don’t think I ever would’ve imagined where I’d be right now,” he said.
An early interest in zoology eventually gave way to video production. At D.C. International School, a public charter school, Campos gravitated toward behind-the-scenes roles. But he stepped in front of the camera to report a story about his family’s history with deportation that aired on “PBS NewsHour” through the school’s connection with Student Reporting Labs.
“I entered journalism not because I was interested in journalism, but because I was interested in video production and video editing,” he said. “I don’t generally consider myself a front-of-the-camera person, but I don’t really have a problem doing it.”
Campos describes himself as introverted. His mom said he grew up in an NPR-oriented household and attributed his willingness to speak up to both his family and his environment.
“He’s always been a very strong-willed person,” said Reavley, who works as a speech pathologist. “He’s definitely more bold than me. His father is definitely not afraid to share his opinions. That part comes from his father.” She added that Campos attended schools that emphasized social justice and activism.
Campos’ video production teacher, Ashley Porter, called him “one of the quietest students I’ve ever had.”
“But you can tell that he’s just so dedicated to everything he does, his friends, and his schoolwork. I’ve seen him open up in terms of being willing to share things that he is passionate about through his storytelling,” Porter said.
Finding his voice
Much of Campos’ journalism has focused on immigration and deportation. His “PBS NewsHour” piece was personal. He interviewed his grandfather, who told the story of how he was deported to Mexico during the Eisenhower administration. Campos’ great-grandmother was forced to snitch on her undocumented family members and friends. His father, Marco Campos, grew up living in fear of deportation.
Reporting on years of family history can be challenging, as Campos learned.
“You have to separate yourself,” Campos said. “Just because you want to tell the story in a certain way and believe people at face value, you have to maintain the same journalistic integrity. I worked pretty hard to match things up (with known facts).”
Another story followed a classmate’s family as they dealt with her father’s detention and eventual release by ICE.
Campos said he didn’t find the projects stressful. For now, journalism is a relief.
“When you’re doing stuff in high school, you also have to focus on your schoolwork and on extracurriculars and all this other stuff going on,” he said. “So, journalism isn’t the No. 1 thing that’s stressing me out. As of right now, it’s the pastime I enjoy doing to not have to worry about the other stuff that’s happening. That will probably change when I’m fully into it.”
As his speech showed, Campos is considerably less reserved when talking about journalism. In his News Emmy speech, he called out CBS and said, “The recent direction of the outlet stains the legacy of Mike Wallace.” In a piece for The Nation , he referred to Bari Weiss as David Ellison’s “appointed lackey.” In an interview with The Guardian , he said, “If Bari Weiss has a problem with what I said and doesn’t want me to receive the scholarship, then she can talk to me.”
During our interview, Campos emphasized that his criticism wasn’t limited to CBS. He was critical of CNN’s Jake Tapper, calling elements of his coverage of the Israel-Hamas war “dishonest” and saying it “presumes a certain worldview that oftentimes is not beneficial to the average American.”
His media diet
Campos rarely watches mainstream media. He prefers watching news to reading it, and much of his media diet comes from YouTube.
The list of things he’d watched and followed in the time leading up to our interview included the Emmy-winning “ More Perfect Union ,” which covers news from a working-class perspective.
“I haven’t watched that much of their stuff, but I really like what they do,” Campos said. “They have a very clear message and a very clear goal of informing people of what benefits them and what impacts them in a positive or negative way.”
His media diet also includes Harris, who gave Campos a studio tour after the Emmys; CaspianReport , which covers news and geopolitical analysis; and Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan . He’s amused that Fox News occasionally surfaces in his Instagram feed. Though he’s not a fan, he said he pays attention to how it frames stories.
“I like to think I have a non-echo-chambered algorithm,” Campos said. “I consume a wide variety of content from different perspectives.”
Campos didn’t know who Mike Wallace was until he applied for the scholarship bearing his name. TV news simply had not been part of his media diet growing up.
After learning about Wallace, Campos came to admire aspects of his work. “(Wallace) had journalistic integrity that I think we should be trying to get back to,” he said.
“The issue with CBS is not exclusive to CBS,” he said. “It’s been a thing since we started deregulating public media and deregulating the news in general, which introduced this whole privatization and corporatization of the media, and this focus on what gains traction and clicks rather than being a trustworthy source for the American people.”
Campos has been wrestling with those same questions as he learns about journalism.
“Eighteen-year-olds who supposedly aren’t watching ‘60 Minutes’ are paying attention,” Porter said. “They’re noticing what’s happening with journalism and they’re trying to make a difference. Some of those concepts that we talk about — ethics and objectivity — seem so old school in some ways. But it still shows up in new-school journalism. That’s what I try to teach students. If you are going to do a story that has a side, how can you make sure that you’re covering them all and not injecting your opinion into it.”
Campos said he is still working through the tension between his own political beliefs and his desire to produce fair journalism.
“I have strong political opinions and am just trying to separate myself from that while also prioritizing the truth and not giving in to the corporate media side of things,” he said.
Along with Spanish, economics and religion, Campos’ fall course load includes Introduction to Journalism.
He’s already gotten quite the introduction.
Want to hear more from Campos? Author Mark Simon also interviewed him for his journalism appreciation podcast, “The Journalism Salute,” about his path to journalism, his Mike Wallace Scholarship speech and what comes next. Listen below.
Correction (Tuesday, Sept. 3, 10 a.m.): An earlier version of this article misspelled Elizabeth Reavley’s surname. We regret the error.