In 1976 he wrote and directed for Telesistema Mexicano a documentary on cellist and composer Pablo Casals' oratorio, El Pesebre (The Manger), an interpretive illustration with the participation of world-renowned cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich and the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional which was transmitted live, from Mexico's Palace of Fine Arts, via satellite, to various parts of the world. Ruiz-Healy's popularity as a newscaster and journalist is attested by the furor created when he left the TV monopoly Telesistema Mexicano in the early 1970s to become News Director and anchor for their main competition, Television Independiente de Mexico (T.I.M.), Channel 8. Ruiz-Healy anchored and directed the Noticiero En Punto and Punto Final. The competition, however, was short-lived. In 1973 T.I.M merged with Telesistema to form the mega-monopoly Televisa. In 1973, Ruiz-Healy directed and produced a one-hour independent investigative documentary: Las Madres Solteras (unwed mothers), with the intent to convince Televisa to air an investigative reporting weekly program named El Reportaje. Ruiz-Healy pitched the idea to Televisa's CEO Emilio Azcarraga Milmo who titled it 60 Minutes, after the landmark CBS program creating a legal tension between the two companies. It didn't prosper into a lawsuit. The program generated an overwhelming response quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon. In the tightly controlled media environment of the late 1970s and 1980s, 60 Minutes was the first program to openly criticize the government and business establishment and to address important social issues, making it one of the most highly rated shows in the history of Mexican television. It was also the first show of its kind in the Spanish-speaking world, paving the way for investigative TV journalism throughout Latin America, as well as Spain. Juan Ruiz-Healy received in 1983 the Premio Nacional de Periodismo (National Journalism Medal) for his role as anchorman and investigative reporter. He also was awarded other recognitions for his investigative reporting on political and social issues such as government corruption, food contamination, poverty, gender, social inequities, and the position of indigenous groups in Mexico. Because of multiple censorships in "60 Minutes", Ruiz-Healy moved to the United States in 1984, where he co-anchored, along with Teresa Rodriguez, for the national news telecast of S.I.N, Spanish International Network (renamed Univision in 1986); where he was also a reporter and liaison for Mexican affairs.