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 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.
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.
-
A look at the viewing experience of this year's Olympic games, including its production and ratings as it streamed on both live TV and NBC's Peacock service.
-
Viewers who woke up early in America to watch NBC's first live morning telecast of an Olympics opening ceremony Friday were greeted with a subdued presentation, where the COVID pandemic loomed large. -
Aiming to make a record that fans would still listen to decades later, George Clinton and Funkadelic mixed R&B, psychedelic rock and a Black guitar hero's cry.
-
Ted Lasso — the Apple TV+ series starring Jason Sudeikis as a clueless American coach taking over a British soccer team — avoids a sophomore slump with grace, heart and a lot of laughs.
-
A new Netflix documentary about tennis superstar Naomi Osaka is a poignant, albeit curated, portrait of a young biracial woman navigating the precipice of sports superstardom.
-
From a banner year for a new generation of streaming platforms to historic inclusion and unexpected exclusions, NPR's Eric Deggans unpacks the 2021 Emmy nominations.
-
The Harlem Cultural Festival was filled with stars from soul, R&B, blues and jazz and drew more than 300,000 people. Questlove directs this breathtaking chronicle of Black culture in a pivotal moment.
-
As the members of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences wrap up voting on nominations for the Emmys, NPR TV critic Eric Deggans offers a few under-the-radar recommendations.
-
Despite his longevity, O'Brien has always seemed like a host who never fit in easily on television – perhaps, at least in part, by design. He plans to debut a weekly variety show on HBO Max.
-
From Miami Vice, to The Wire, to Orange Is the New Black, scripted TV shows have had a serious and sometimes unrecognized impact on public attitudes about drugs in America.
