Tomás Ocaña

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Ocaña and the second or maternal family name is Urwitz.

Tomás Ocaña Urwitz (born January 20, 1984) is a Spanish investigative journalist for Univision News[1] and contributor to investigations such as the Panama Papers and Swiss Leaks.[2][3] Between 2012 and 2016, he reported on investigations involving cross-border money laundering, illicit firearm flows, forced labor in mining, and cartel-linked human trafficking, receiving recognition from the Peabody Awards and the Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards.[4][5]

Career

Ocaña holds degrees in law and journalism from Carlos III University of Madrid. He began his career in journalism at CNN+ and Cuatro before becoming executive producer of El Telediario de Intereconomía. In January 2012, he joined the newly formed Documentaries department at Univision, where he worked on several investigative projects. One of his early productions, PRESSured, co-directed with Mariana Atencio, focused on press freedom in Latin America. The documentary received the Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media[6] in 2014.

Ocaña later became a news reporter and producer at Univision Investiga, the investigative branch of the network, under the journalist Gerardo Reyes.

One of his reports, "El Chapo Guzmán, The Eternal Fugitive" (2014), broadcast before the 2015 escape and 2016 recapture of infamous Mexican drug lord, earned an Emmy Award for Best Investigative Journalism in Spanish.[7]

Another investigation, "Fast and Furious: Arming the Enemy," tracked firearms from an operation led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The report won a Peabody Award[8] and an IRE Award (Investigative Reporters and Editors) for investigative journalism.[9]

Ocaña and the Univision Investiga team also received an Emmy Award as part of the Univision News team that covered the murder of 43 Mexican students in Iguala.

In 2016, the report "Tall Tale" won the National Journalism Award in Mexico for its coverage of the political and business intricacies of US $205 million. The work was conducted by Univision Investiga and the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeley. This joint project was nominated at the 37th Emmy Awards, where Ocaña received two additional nominations.

In 2021, Ocaña directed Lucía en la telaraña, a documentary produced for RTVE, which investigated the unsolved murder of Lucía Garrido near Málaga in 2008.[10]

Awards

  • Peabody Award for "Fast and Furious, Arming the Enemy"
  • Investigative Reporters & Editors Award for "Fast and Furious, Arming the Enemy"
  • Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism in Spanish for "El Chapo, the eternal fugitive"
  • Nominated for the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists
  • Co-director of the documentary PRESSured, Gracie Award for the best documentary (2014)
  • Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism in Spanish for "Los Nuevos Narcotesoros"
  • Part of the team awarded with the Ortega y Gasset Journalism Award in the multimedia category for "Los Nuevos Narcotesoros" (2015)[11]
  • Emmy Award for Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in Spanish for "La Masacre de Iguala"
  • National Journalism Award of Mexico in the category Research Report on TV for "A tall tale"
  • Ondas Award for "GAL, the Triangle," an investigative podcast[12]

References

  1. ^ "Tomás Ocaña, reporter and producer for Univision Investiga". Univision. August 19, 2015.
  2. ^ ICIJ team (2016-04-03). "Panama Papers investigation contributors". ICIJ. Retrieved 2025-10-17.
  3. ^ Serge Michel; Marina Walker Guevara; Mar Cabra; Emilia Díaz-Struck; Martha M. Hamilton; Tom Stites; Hamish Boland-Rudder; Rigoberto Carvajal; Matthew Caruana Galizia; Will Fitzgibbon; Cecile S. Gallego; Marcos Garcia Rey; Paul Radu; Blaž Zgaga; Milorad Ivanovic; Miranda Patrucić; Rui Araujo; Inga Springe; Alexenia Dimitrova (2015-02-02). "Swiss Leaks: journalists involved". ICIJ. Retrieved 2025-10-17.
  4. ^ Univision News Investigative Unit (March 30, 2013). "Inside the Award-Winning "Fast and Furious" Investigation". ABC News. Retrieved October 17, 2025.
  5. ^ Lee, Michael (2013-06-15). "IRE Award winners 2013". IRE. Retrieved 2025-10-17.
  6. ^ APM (2015-09-30). "El periodista español Tomás Ocaña recibe dos Emmy por su labor de investigación". APM (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-06-27.
  7. ^ VILLAFAÑE, VERONICA (October 1, 2014). "Univision picks up Emmy for investigative journalism". Media Moves. Retrieved November 3, 2025.
  8. ^ "Rapido y Furioso (Fast & Furious)". Peabody Awards. University of Georgia. 2012. Retrieved 2025-10-12.
  9. ^ "2012 IRE Award winners". Investigative Reporters & Editors. 2013. Archived from the original on 2017-10-10. Retrieved 2025-10-12.
  10. ^ "Crónicas Subterráneas, jugando con ceros". Tomás Ocaña (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-02-03.
  11. ^ Blas, Elsa García de (2015-04-16). ""La investigación es el gran valor que pueden ofrecer los medios"". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2025-12-04.
  12. ^ Whittock, Jesse (2022-05-23). "Newen Studios-Owned iZen Launches Spanish Investigative Docs Producer CAPA Spain With Journalist Tomás Ocaña". Deadline. Retrieved 2025-12-04.
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