Standing in front of the most powerful and well-known people in the television news business on Wednesday night, in a glitzy New York City ballroom, 18-year-old high school student Santiago Campos shocked – but also delighted – many in attendance when he called out the network that funded the scholarship he received: CBS News.

Campos, a graduating senior at the District of Columbia international school who had traveled to New York for the 47th annual news and documentary Emmy awards with his mother and teacher, was awarded the Mike Wallace memorial scholarship, honoring the legendary television interviewer. Campos was given the award by veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, who said: “Mike would see something of himself in this year’s recipient.”

While Campos thanked CBS News for funding the $10,000 grant, he launched into a critique of the network’s direction under editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and owner David Ellison. “I want to also acknowledge how the recent direction of the outlet stains the legacy of Mike Wallace, the namesake of this scholarship,” he told the crowd.

“As corporate elites take hold over the very pipes through which our information flows, journalism that serves the people becomes increasingly harder to come by, yet ever more crucial. And what the people want is the truth. So if at any time you hesitate to utter the word ‘genocide’, or remain silent in the face of blatant lies, remember to ask yourself: ‘Who is this for?’ I hope you choose us.”

Pelley effusively praised Campos, and the moment quickly went viral on social media. “I know that Mike Wallace is looking down on you with pride at this very moment,” Pelley said.

Speaking with the Guardian while taking the train back to Washington on Thursday, Campos said he felt an obligation to speak up about the network’s editorial direction – even as he expressed gratitude for the scholarship, which he said he will put toward attending Georgetown University in the fall. (He said he was not familiar with Mike Wallace before applying for the scholarship honoring him.)

“I knew it was kind of what I had to do,” Campos said. “I felt like I couldn’t just accept the scholarship and also ignore just how wrong the direction of CBS is going. I was nervous to speak to such a large crowd, but there was never a question about if I was going to say the things I said or not. I think that was always my plan.”

Campos said he doesn’t use Twitter, but he was aware of the reaction that his comments generated.

“I think it received a lot more attention than I was expecting,” he said. “I think that that just shows where we are right now and how low the bar is in terms of our expectations of journalists and the mainstream media. I think what I said should be the normal, and so I think we need to get to a place where things like that, and that kind of audacity and integrity is being shown every single day by professional journalists and not by an 18-year-old student.”

Campos said his remarks were shared in advance with the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, which he said was broadly supportive of his right to share his perspective.

“If Bari Weiss has a problem with what I said and doesn’t want me to receive the scholarship, then she can talk to me,” he said. “But I think most people in the room agreed with me, and I think it was just my responsibility to address my concerns and my qualms and my criticisms of CBS before accepting the scholarship.”

Campos said he received some job leads after his speech, including an internship offer at a national newspaper – though his current plan for the summer is to lifeguard at a county pool.

Long term, he said, he might be interested in working in television for a few years, but is more focused on independent, long-form, non-fiction video journalism.

“To be honest, I don’t really watch any broadcast [television],” he said. “I’m pretty disillusioned with the current media environment. And I also think that broadcast is a dying industry. I think that the future is more independent journalism on social media, on YouTube, and so I’m hoping to embrace that new future of journalism.”

In the near future, though, he’s more focused on prom and graduation.