AEJMC Trailblazers of Diversity Interview with Tony Atwater

  • Introduction
  • Atwater was a "military brat" and lived in several places growing up. He was born in Nashville, Tennessee.
  • He got into journalism after he graduated from Hampton University. He began his broadcast career in Roanoke, Virginia.
  • He attended Hampton University in the 1970's. He says Hampton University has evolved into a stronger and more prestigious institution.
  • He started out in radio news at WSLC-FM in Roanoke.
  • One day when he was on air, WLVA heard him and hired him. Now, the station is WSAT.
  • He says the best part about broadcast journalism is covering history instantly.
  • After 10 years, he decided to pursue academia.
  • He worked at a public relations role at Virginia Tech. This influenced him to become a professor.
  • Through a fellowship, he enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Michigan State University.
  • After obtaining his doctorate, he was hired as a professor at Michigan State. He worked there for 10 years.
  • He was encouraged to work in the administrative area.
  • He was enrolled in a master's program at Virginia Tech, but Michigan State told him that his background was well enough that he didn't need a master's.
  • His Ph.D. was in mass media, but he fell under broadcast journalism. He says it was a diverse program.
  • Hist first journal publication was a historical analysis of Ebony Magazine and how it covered the civil rights movement. That was his first article published.
  • He says this was a big accomplishment. He was able to publish other articles as a doctoral student.
  • After he graduated, he says he was a "very productive scholar." He published over 30 articles in his career.
  • His main research area is media gatekeeping. He says this ties everything else together. "News is not necessarily an absolute, it involves making decisions."
  • He mentions "The New York Times" and says we cover and report news that's fit to print.
  • The question he had was,"what's not being covered?" A lot of his research related to news decision making.
  • Another area was media coverage of terrorism. At the time, the Trans World Airlines crisis was a focus in his studies.
  • At an AEJMC conference, he was told terrorism wasn't going to happen. He says terrorism has become a significant issue worldwide.
  • At a social, a colleague told him he was still citing and quoting Atwater's research. He said it feels good to know people are using his research after decades.
  • He talks about his first years as an assistant professor in the 1980's. He names some of his colleagues at Michigan State. Their work encouraged him.
  • He says there wasn't a lot of diversity at Michigan State. There was an effort to diversify, but one of the challenges was that there weren't a lot of blacks getting a Ph.D.
  • He says the civil rights movement's efforts sunk in the 1980's and 1990's.
  • It was an exciting time because there was a diversity of ideas on college campuses. He says universities have to entertain freedom of speech and diversity of ideas.
  • He was encouraged to consider working in administration. He became an Assistant Director of the Honors College at Michigan State.
  • He had a choice between continuing his professorship or giving administration a chance. His goal in administration was to become president.
  • In 1993, he became the department chair of journalism and mass communications at Rutgers University. That was the same year he became president of AEJMC.
  • He's had history with AEJMC; he presented papers in various divisions. He was a member of the Broadcast Journalism Division.
  • He won a number of teaching awards. He felt honored to be recognized. At one point, he was identified as being the most productive doctoral students.
  • He had a productive tenure at Michigan State. When he moved into administration, he was focused on helping students.
  • He talks about divisions he worked with, including mass communication and society, and professional freedom and responsibility.
  • He says AEJMC took the bull by the horns in terms of dealing with diversity. They focused attention on dealing with equity, race, gender, and sexual orientation.
  • During his presidency, diversity was something he was dealing with. He was the first African American president of AEJMC.
  • His predecessor, Terry Hines, was the first female president of AEJMC.
  • AEJMC wanted their presidents to have a scholarship reputation.
  • He held numerous roles with the broadcast division of AEJMC. He also had an interest in the media ethics areas.
  • One of his goals as AEJMC president was to plan a successful convention.
  • When he came in, there were 3 things he wanted to achieve. One was a highly successful convention.
  • AEJMC used to be focused on the journalism arena. He says there was a debate on the mission when adding mass communication. New media was on the horizon.
  • He gave a speech titled, "Two Trains Running." He borrowed the phrase from August Wilson, a black playwright. He used it as a metaphor to say that AEJMC needed to look to new media.
  • The change affected the name of the organization and its divisions, and the publications it put out.
  • He wanted to emphasize that diversity was a positive thing in academia. He talks about a time he recognized an outstanding scholar.
  • Diversity was not just a public policy issue he wanted to deal with. He says some organizations aren't ready for diversity, but that the association was.
  • A commission was formed to look at expanding the association's commitment to diversity. He says doctoral students are an integral part of AEJMC.
  • He talks about the leaders who spoke eloquently on diversity. The progress they made was positive, but there is a further distance to go.
  • "It's important that we communicate and be an advocate for the First Amendment and for what journalists do." AEJMC is a strong advocate for journalists.
  • He had an exciting experience at Rutgers University. He was dealing with "electronic journalism" at the time.
  • He had the opportunity to develop an electronic news gathering lab. Being close to the city was an advantage to enrich student experiences.
  • He got involved in a study that had some impact on helping journalism become more responsive to the citizens of New Jersey.
  • He did a content analysis that proved New York Stations weren't covering New Jersey as much as they thought they were.
  • The study had a huge impact and he says news stations took the challenge of doing more for New Jersey.
  • Balancing the two administrative positions he had was not easy. Being thought of as a scholar you need to keep some of that going, even as an administrator.
  • After Rutgers University, he went to the University of Toledo. There, he was an Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs.
  • Then, he went to Northern Kentucky University where he was a dean at the college of professional studies.
  • After that, he went to Youngstown State University where he was provost. Then, he became the president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
  • After, he was the president of Norfolk State University. He says he's had a rich career in terms of assignments.
  • His wife is a medical doctor and was able to move with him throughout all of his assignments.
  • He became aware that different kinds of universities have different missions. But, there are some core features that are the same.
  • At Indiana University of Pennsylvania, he brought in the first chief diversity officer. They focused on utilizing diversity as an academic strength.
  • He got this idea from Michigan State University because a theme they had was Institutional Diversity Excellence in Action (IDEA).
  • Throughout his career, he says he brought that perspective. The goal was to strengthen inclusion.
  • When he was at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, it was the largest doctoral university state system.
  • Norfolk State University is a HBCU; one of Atwater's career goals was to serve as president of a HBCU.
  • Dealing with digital media is something that is he's working to get better with. The pace of change is challenging.
  • He teaches courses in introduction to media writing, and research methods and theory. Also, media ethics.
  • He generated a new course at Norfolk dealing with reality television. He says there's a blend of news and drama.
  • Students today are savvy with the new technologies, especially social media. He says their attention span is shorter.
  • He believes the next generation an exciting group of people. Students today are much more open to dealing with different kinds of people.
  • He encourages and helps graduate students.
  • Atwater feels it's his role as an instructor to tap into students to see what gets them motivated.
  • A colleague of his used to say "Show me a student who can't learn, and I'll show you a teacher who can't teach." That always stuck with Atwater.
  • Internships are critical because they are part of the learning process and help students mature.
  • Students need to be connected with people doing good work.
  • A lot of stewards are in AEJMC. He says diversity has virtues and values.
  • Serving in administration is challenging and demanding. Important decisions have to be made, and sometimes those decisions aren't popular.
  • He believes we need permanent deans and presidents to send a message of commitment. Interim reads too much as temporary.
  • We need people who are going to take calculated risks.
  • He recalls the decision he made in 1993 to include mass communication to be AEJMC.
  • A leader is different from a manager. Good leaders are going to have challenging decisions to make that are sometimes not popular.
  • Atwater says he would like to be known as a person who is responsible and a respected broadcast journalist. Also, as an accomplished person of color.
  • Growing up as a military brat he learned that we're all the same. We have more in common than we have differences.
  • He published a book of poems and there's a poem titled, "Spirits Have No Color."
  • He has a second book of poetry in the works and that is getting ready to be published.
  • Keeping busy is exciting. He says his wife is very supportive and encouraging.
  • Being a strong role model is important, for people of color and who aren't of color.
  • Part of the challenge is breaking through cognitive perceptual barriers so we can appreciate other human beings.
  • "Spirits Have No Color" talks about life and human family.
  • Mass communication and journalism is still exciting and having great impact on society.
  • He looks at diversity as being an important priority for enhancing and enriching the human experience.
  • He was very honored to serve as AEJMC president.
  • George Daniels concludes interview.