ERIC DEGGANS | Journalist. Author. Pundit. Public Speaker. – ERIC DEGGANS | Journalist. Author. Pundit. Public Speaker.

About Eric Deggans

Eric Deggans is NPR’s first full-time TV critic, serving as critic, media analyst and guest host. 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. He is an adjunct instructor at Duke University and Indiana University, also serving as a member of the National Advisory Board at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. 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, established in 1966 to honor “Journalists of the highest distinction…who have deep ties to Indiana.” This group includes fellow NPR colleague Steve Inskeep and former 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft.

He has guest hosted CNN’s media analysis show Reliable Sources many times and 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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Eric Deggans at NPR1 day ago

Here’s a short essay on how my love for teaching and media industry turbulence led me to a giant-sized career change after more than 30 years as a journalist and critic. READ: https://loom.ly/-NtB0ac

How a love for teaching led to a giant-sized career move

Why helping train young journalists and shape ideas about the industry makes sense amid media’s growing turbulence

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Eric Deggans at NPR3 days ago

Is it possible watching reality TV shows like The Bachelor - where viewers see something they know is fake, want to believe it and know they cannot trust those who make it to be truthful about the process - feeds overall media mistrust? My Substack screed: https://loom.ly/iTJHeh4

Can following 'The Bachelor' lead to mistrust of all media?

One cranky TV critic's screed suggesting how reality TV might feed mistrust of all media.

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Eric Deggans at NPR5 days ago

I have, as the kids say, some news…

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Eric Deggans at NPR5 days ago

The Trump administration just gutted Voice of America and related networks reaching 420 million people in 63 languages and 100 countries, aimed at delivering news coverage/cultural programming to places where a free press is threatened or doesn't exist. https://loom.ly/t7Z8xvw

'Bloody Saturday' at Voice of America and other U.S.-funded networks

Federal officials placed 1,000 employees at Voice of America on indefinite paid leave, while severing contracts with Radio Free Asia and other U.S.-funded networks.

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Journalist

Eric is the first full-time TV critic and media analyst for National Public Radio. He served as TV/Media Critic for the Tampa Bay Times, guest host of CNN’s Reliable Sources and freelance contributor to Salon, Huffington Post, and CNN.com.

Pundit

Eric has appeared as a pundit and expert on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, PBS’ The NewsHour, the Tom Joyner Morning Show and many other outlets.

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.

Public Speaker

Eric is available as a keynote speaker, instructor and thought leader on a wide range of topics, including: race issues, media, pop culture, social media, brand identity, music, online technology and much more.

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

Black Stories. Black Truths. — Eric Deggans — NPR TV Critic

TEDx speech: How to Talk About Race Across Race Lines

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

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.