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.