Eric Deggans
Eric Deggans is NPR's first full-time TV critic.
Deggans came to NPR in 2013 from the Tampa Bay Times, where he served a TV/Media Critic and in other roles for nearly 20 years. A journalist for more than 20 years, he is also the author of , a look at how prejudice, racism and sexism fuels some elements of modern media, published in October 2012, by Palgrave Macmillan.
Deggans is also currently a media analyst/contributor for MSNBC and NBC News. In August 2013, he guest hosted CNN's media analysis show Reliable Sources, joining a select group of journalists and media critics filling in for departed host Howard Kurtz. The same month, Deggans was awarded the Florida Press Club's first-ever Diversity award, honoring his coverage of issues involving race and media. He received the Legacy award from the National Association of Black Journalists' A&E Task Force, an honor bestowed to "seasoned A&E journalists who are at the top of their careers." And in 2019, he was named winner of the American Sociological Association's Excellence in the Reporting of Social Justice Issues Award.
In 2019, Deggans served as the first African American chairman of the board of educators, journalists and media experts who select the George Foster Peabody Awards for excellence in electronic media.
He also has joined a prestigious group of contributors to the first ethics book created in conjunction with the Poynter Institute for Media Studies for journalism's digital age: The New Ethics of Journalism, published in August 2013, by Sage/CQ Press.
From 2004 to 2005, Deggans sat on the then-St. Petersburg Times editorial board and wrote bylined opinion columns. From 1997 to 2004, he worked as TV critic for the Times, crafting reviews, news stories and long-range trend pieces on the state of the media industry both locally and nationally. He originally joined the paper as its pop music critic in November 1995. He has worked at the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey and both the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Press newspapers in Pennsylvania.
Now serving as chair of the Media Monitoring Committee for the National Association of Black Journalists, he has also served on the board of directors for the national Television Critics Association and on the board of the Mid-Florida Society of Professional Journalists.
Additionally, he worked as a professional drummer in the 1980s, touring and performing with Motown recording artists The Voyage Band throughout the Midwest and in Osaka, Japan. He continues to perform with area bands and recording artists as a drummer, bassist and vocalist.
Deggans earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and journalism from Indiana University.
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Piers Morgan announced that CNN will be canceling his show, just weeks after Fox TV said it would be parting ways with British star and American Idol alum Simon Cowell. -
The organization has unveiled its nominees for the 45th annual Image Awards, established to honor African-American performers who are often ignored by mainstream Hollywood. Some nominees are white, others of South-Asian or Latino heritage. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans wonders if that changes the meaning of the ceremony. -
Defining when something is or isn't about race can be tricky. So people tend to go by a simple rule of thumb: Does it involve people who aren't white? If so, it's about race. Eric Deggans explains why this is a problem. -
November is over and so is the big fall TV season. But there are bright gifts among the off-season also-rans, including TNT's Mob City and a French series about the undead. -
The online retailer is premiering its first original show 鈥� a comedy about four senators bunking together in D.C. NPR's Eric Deggans says the series, which stars John Goodman, isn't quite the sharp comedy you might expect from creator Garry Trudeau. -
Fox's business imperative: A diverse cast increases the likelihood the network will pick up a new show, promote it, syndicate it and see it do well with audiences. -
TV's most storied newsmagazine still hasn't explained just how it made such big mistakes on a story about the terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, that it was later forced to retract. The reason for that might be found in a single word: Memogate.
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The late-night sketch comedy show is coming under new criticism. Should Saturday Night Live include more black, female comedians because it's the "right thing to do?" -
On Sundays this summer, Lifetime has a new show from the creator of Desperate Housewives, Mark Cherry. Critic Eric Deggans says Devious Maids is trying to explode stereotypes about Latinos and domestic workers. But it might not be trying hard enough.
