{"id":214678,"date":"2026-03-21T20:38:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T20:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/214678\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T20:38:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T20:38:28","slug":"diana-r-fuentes-veteran-investigative-journalist-dies-after-more-than-35-years-in-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/214678\/","title":{"rendered":"Diana R. Fuentes, veteran investigative journalist, dies after more than 35 years in field"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Diana R. Fuentes, the executive director of Investigative Reporters & Editors, has died, according to the nonprofit organization<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fuentes died unexpectedly while she was in Washington, D.C., for a \u201cFOIA conference\u201d on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith over 35 years in journalism, … Diana brought a wealth of experience to our organization when she came on as executive director in April 2021,\u201d IRE said.<\/p>\n

Fuentes, a second-generation Texan, was also a professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia and Texas State University, where she recently earned her master\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n

She spent much of her career inside newsrooms in San Antonio and South Texas, and helped raise money for journalism scholarships.<\/p>\n

IRE noted she led and was a member of several journalism organizations, including the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, which inducted her into its Hall of Fame in 2022.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists<\/a> (SAAHJ) said it is \u201csaddened\u201d by the news.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are saddened to share the passing of a giant in our industry,\u201d SAAHJ said. \u201dDeeDee had an undeniable impact. Her legacy will continue in everyone she influenced.\u201d<\/p>\n

IRE said the board, staff and other stakeholders will gather to discuss honoring Fuentes\u2019 legacy and the organization\u2019s next steps.<\/p>\n

Read also: <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Diana R. Fuentes, the executive director of Investigative Reporters & Editors, has died, according to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[631,163,30778,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-214678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-death","tag-education","tag-journalism","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}