Photo credit: Todd Bates

About Eric Deggans

Eric Deggans is the Knight Professor of Journalism and Media Ethics at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, overseeing classes on media issues, ethics and journalism. He also serves as a critic-at-large at NPR, moving into this role in 2025 after serving nearly 12 years as the first full-time TV critic hired by the network, also contributing as a media analyst and guest host.

Eric is also a guest instructor and member of the National Advisory Board for the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, FL, appearing as guest host, interviewer or pundit on shows for CNN, MSNBC, PBS and other outlets. He came to NPR from the Tampa Bay Times newspaper in Florida, where he served as TV/Media Critic and in other roles for nearly 20 years. A professional journalist since 1990, he is the author of Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation, a look at how prejudice, racism and sexism fuels some elements of modern media, published in October 2012 by Palgrave Macmillan.

A native of Gary, Indiana, Eric was inducted in 2024 into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame. He has also served as a moderator for discussions organized by the Smithsonian Institution, the National Endowment for the Arts, The National Book Festival, the Chautauqua Institute and the South By Southwest conference. He has earned the Distinguished Alumni Service Award from Indiana University – the institution’s highest alumni honor. In 2019, Eric became the first African American to serve as chairman for the jurors who select the George Foster Peabody Awards for excellence in electronic media at the University of Georgia; his one-year tenure capped a total six years he served on the board of jurors.

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Switching Codes with Eric Deggans
Switching Codes with Eric Deggans23 hours ago
I had a feeling - watching Geddy Lee w/Yes at the rock hall of fame, seeing Lee and Alex Lifeson play Taylor Hawkins tribute - they might tour again. Now they’re officially doing it, I hope fans give drummer Anika Niles space to do her version of Rush. https://loom.ly/5YOz6TM
Switching Codes with Eric Deggans
Geddy and Alex Send a Message to Rush Fans
Rush 50 Something RUSH are hitting select cities to celebrate 50-something years with you. Sign up now for the Artist Presale thru this Thursday, October 9th...
Switching Codes with Eric Deggans
Switching Codes with Eric Deggans1 day ago
I've been in the job a little while now, but we've finally got a new version of my personal website featuring info on my new gig as Knight Professor of Journalism and Media Ethics at Washington & Lee University. Check it out, let me know what you think: https://loom.ly/vcHZaS4
Switching Codes with Eric Deggans
Switching Codes with Eric Deggans1 day ago
Some thoughts exploring why trust in media outlets to report accurate news is sagging to historic levels, according to a new Pew poll and other studies. I try to look beyond typical arguments and toward larger changes in media, politics, audiences. READ: https://loom.ly/2p_hMP0
Switching Codes with Eric Deggans
Switching Codes with Eric Deggans4 days ago
Many thanks to Substacker Fawnia Soo Hoo, who kept me in her piece on Gen X men going through it on TV, even after I insisted this wasn't much different than the way other generations of men - mostly middle aged and white - have been depicted. READ: https://loom.ly/hOAs1bs

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Educator

Eric is the Knight Professor of Journalism and Media Ethics at Washington and Lee University in Virginia. He has also taught at Duke University, Indiana University, University of Tampa and Eckerd College.

Journalist

Eric is critic at large for National Public Radio. He has served as TV critic, media analyst and guest host at NPR, TV/media critic for the Tampa Bay Times and as a contributor to CNN, NBC News and the New York Times, among others.

Author

In Race-Baiter, Eric dissects the powerful ways modern media feeds fears, prejudices, and hate, while also tracing the history of the word and its consequences, intended or otherwise.

Pundit/Public Speaker

Eric has appeared as a pundit on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, PBS and many other outlets. He is available as a keynote speaker and thought leader on many topics, including: race issues, media, pop culture and journalist ethics.

The Daily Show News Team at SXSW: Content From Their Couches

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TEDx speech: How to Talk About Race Across Race Lines

Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation

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In Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation, Eric describes how some media outlets have weaponized messages of fear, division and social conflict. They exacerbate old prejudices and deep-rooted fears about women, people of color, immigrants, Muslims and other marginalized groups, seeking a loyal audience, advertising dollars and political power.

Gone is the era of three-channel television, when every outlet fought to serve a wide spectrum of American viewers. Today, many pundits, bloggers, podcasters and cable news anchors aim instead for a passionate niche of fans. When that process illuminates a previously overlooked group, it is a wonderful exercise in equality. But when it segments viewers along race, class and gender lines, resisting America’s proud legacy of progress through diversity, then problems arise. Deggans experienced this phenomenon firsthand when he was called a “race-baiter” by then-Fox News Channel anchor Bill O’Reilly.

The term “Race-Baiter” — once applied to those who unfairly leveraged racism against minorities — has been recast by some to describe anyone who criticizes prejudice in modern media. The conflict at hand: a debate on whether systemic racism and prejudice still affects marginalized groups in America.

The book also features an interview with conservative firebrand Andrew Breitbart conducted five months before his death and an interview with pundit Tucker Carlson years before he would become Fox News Channel’s biggest star.

Well ahead of the current drive to diversify fictional TV shows, Eric details how the nation’s four largest TV networks were nearly sued by the NAACP for their lack of onscreen diversity. Before CBS declared 50 percent of its contestants on unscripted “Reality TV” shows like Survivor and Big Brother would be non-white people, Race-Baiter dissected how racial politics made it much harder for contestants of color to succeed on those shows.

Race-Baiter sounds the alarm for a more civil discourse, showing that the more we talk past each other, the further we drift from solutions to our very real problems.

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