The Television Academy awards José Luis Balbín the Jesús Hermida Lifetime Achievement Award

The Council of the Academy of Television and Audiovisual Sciences and Arts has awarded the Jesús Hermida Lifetime Achievement Award, the Institution's highest award, to the journalist, José Luis Balbín in recognition of a career linked to the television medium.

The creator, director and presenter of the program The Key, has been a pioneer in the way of approaching television debates and gatherings in our country. The Key It constituted an essential forum for democratic dialogue with a very didactic and innovative format.

During the Spanish Transition, the La Clave debates contributed to the process of political change after a dictatorship of almost 40 years. It was chosen one of the ten best programs in the history of Television in Spain by the members of the Television Academy.

In previous calls this award, previously called a Whole Life, has been awarded to important figures in the television world such as Jesús Hermida, Miguel de la Quadra Salcedo, Antonio Mercero, Chicho Ibáñez Serrador, Josefina Molina, Matías Prats Sr., José de las Casas, Pedro Amalio López, Emilio Aragón “Miliki”, Rosa María Calaf, Rosa María Mateo, Concha Velasco, José Ángel de la Casa, José María Íñigo, Laura Valenzuela, María Teresa Campos, Mayra Gómez Kemp, Fernando García de la Vega, Paloma Gómez Borrero, Xavier Sardá, Ana Blanco and Matías Prats. In its last edition, the Academy recognized Manuel Campo Vidal with the Jesús Hermida Lifetime Achievement Award.

Balbín, key in the history of TV

The journalist José Luis Balbín Meana (Asturias, 1940), popularly known for being the moderator and creator of the program The Key (1976-1985) of Spanish Television, he was director of the Information Services of the public channel between 1982 and 1983.

After a few years of professional activity at Antena 3 Radio, he returned to television with the legendary debate program, but this time on Antena 3 TV until 1993. Later, and on the same network, he hosted the interview program La Senda. On the COPE network he works as a talk show host on the program The Lantern and in The Morning. In 1998 he returned to TVE with the program The keys in which he interviewed great Spanish and foreign figures. In 2000 he founded the general information weekly The Key. In 2015 he was awarded the National Television Award.