Nelson Castro (journalist)

Nelson Castro
Born	Nelson Alberto Castro 5 April 1955
Occupation	Journalist, doctor, writer
Language	Spanish
Nationality	Argentine

Nelson Alberto Castro (born 5 April 1955 in San Martín, Province of Buenos Aires)^[1] is an Argentine journalist, doctor and writer. He hosts political debate show "El Juego Limpio" (English: Fair Game) on Todo Noticias (TN), Thursday nights.^[2]

Early life

Castro was born on 5 April 1955, in the town of San Martin, province of Buenos Aires to Elsa and Nelson Manuel Castro. As a child, he attended the Nuestra señora de Lujan religious school, from 1961 to 1973, finishing both, elementary and high school there. When he was a five-month old baby, he was diagnosed with gangrenous erysipelas (A infectious disease product of an unknown germ). As the result of this, he had his face redone 7 times by the time he was 14 and almost died. According to Castro himself, this was a "real challenge" to him.^[3]

In medicine

He attended the UBA college, starting in 1974, located in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. He earned a degree on Medicine on 2 April 1980 with honors. A neurologist, in 1986 he travelled to the United States as he received a scholarship to study at Northwestern University.^[4]

He exercised the profession for ten years, alongside his journalistic career. He stopped exercising medicine in 1993. According to Castro himself, he decided to leave medicine because it wasn't "ethic" to continue exercising it, as patients often visited his medical office, however, not to have treatment but "to see the man who appeared on TV".^[5]

In journalism

He graduated from the Grafótecnico institute as a journalist in 1974. At first both, a sports journalist and color commentator, he performed the task for over ten years, up until 1984 where he joined Radio Municipal, based in Buenos Aires city, where he jumped into political commentary. That same year, he got a scholarship from the World Press Institute (WPI), due to his covering of the Irangate, where he was chosen in a contest between 1500 journalists from all over the world. He performed economic and political analysis studies at Harvard, eventually achieving a master's degree in political journalism. During his time in the U.S.A he also performed as an intern at the National Public Radio and National Broadcasting Company, as part of the W.P.I plan.^[6]

In 1988, he was hired by Radio El Mundo, also based in the capital city. That same year he was the first Latin American journalist to announce the victory of George Herbert Walker Bush in the U.S. presidential elections, an event which was highlighted by Voice of America.

In 1991, he was chosen to cover the Persian Gulf War by the same radio station. Castro there communicated (Via telephone) with U.S. Air Force captain Ralph Scott, warning him that President Bush had ordered to make the final attack by ground over the Iraqi troops. As the result of this, he was selected by the local U.S. embassy to participate at the Worldnet conference with U.S. State Department officials and government authorities.

In 1993, he ventured into television, starting with the "En la mira" TV-show, which was broadcast by CableVisión Noticias. This TV program lasted until March 1998, where he resigned his contract with the network. That same year, he was hired by cable TV-news channel Todo Noticias (TN) to host "Juego limpio" political debate show.

He currently hosts "El juego limpio" political debate TV-program, airing by TV-news network TN, writes at the Perfil newspaper, and hosts "La mirada despierta" through Continental radio station, all based in Buenos Aires.^[7][8][9]

References