Eric Deggans

Eric Deggans is the Knight Professor of Journalism and Media Ethics at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, overseeing classes on media issues, ethics and journalism. He also organizes and leads the school’s Ethics Institutes twice a year, in which experienced journalism professionals participate in a two-day conference, dissecting issues with students and exploring cutting edge concepts in the field.

As a Knight Chair, Deggans joins a collection of 26 other professors in positions endowed at 23 different universities across the country by the Knight Foundation, bridging the newsroom-classroom divide with innovative teaching, major outreach projects and their own journalism.

Deggans also serves as a critic-at-large at NPR, appearing on all the network’s shows, including Morning Edition, Here & Now and All Things Considered, writing for NPR.org and appearing on podcasts such as Consider This, Life Kit and Pop Culture Happy Hour. He moved into this role in 2025 after serving nearly 12 years as the first full-time TV critic hired by the network, contributing as a media analyst and guest host during his tenure as a full-time staffer.

He also serves as a guest instructor and member of the National Advisory Board for the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, FL; before joining the faculty at Washington and Lee, he worked as an adjunct instructor at Duke University, Indiana University, University of Tampa and Eckerd College. 

Deggans has also served as guest host/interviewer for shows ranging from CNN’s media analysis show Reliable Sources to the entertainment industry podcast and radio program on Los Angeles NPR member station KCRW, called The Business.

In April 2024, he was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame, joining a roster of journalists which includes 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft, CSPAN founder Brian Lamb, CBS Sunday Morning anchor Jane Pauley and NPR colleague Steve Inskeep. That honor came just a few years after he was given the Distinguished Alumni Award from Indiana University, where he graduated with a double major in Political Science and Journalism in 1990.

In 2019, Deggans 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. From 2017 to 2021, he also served as a contributor/media analyst for MSNBC and NBC News.

Eric guest hosted CNN’s media analysis show Reliable Sources several times in fall 2013, joining a select group of journalists and media critics filling in for departed host Howard Kurtz (Eric appeared on Kurtz’s last show, guest hosted the program three times and then appeared on new host Brian Stelter’s first AND last show, in 2013 and 2022). He also joined a prestigious group of contributors to the first ethics book created in a partnership between Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Developed as Poynter’s first ethics book for the digital age, The New Ethics of Journalism was published in August 2013 by Sage/CQ Press. 

In 2017, Eric was named one of the country’s 15 Most Influential Media Reporters by the website Mediaite and in 2009, he was cited as one of Ebony magazine’s “Power 150” – a list of influential black Americans which also included Oprah Winfrey and PBS host Gwen Ifill. He has been honored with awards from the American Sociological Association, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Florida Press Club.

Eric has also lectured or taught as an adjunct professor at Harvard University’s COOP bookstore, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communications, DePaul University, Loyola University, George Washington University, California State University, the University of Southern California, the University of Tampa and many other colleges.

His writing has also appeared in the New York Times, POLITICO, Columbia Journalism Review, ESPN, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Salon magazine, CNN.com, the Washington Post, Village Voice, VIBE magazine, Emmy magazine, Newsmax magazine, Rolling Stone Online and a host of other newspapers across the country.

Back in 1995, he joined the Tampa Bay Times (then known as the St. Petersburg Times) as its pop music critic; he has also worked at the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey and both the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Pittsburgh Press newspapers in Pennsylvania. He has also served on the board of directors for the national Television Critics Association and 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.

Born in Washington D.C. but raised in Gary, Ind., Eric has contributed as a pundit or essayist to many media outlets, including: CBS Mornings; CBS Sunday Morning; NBC Nightly News;  CNN’s New Day, CNN Tonight, Reliable Sources (CNN); AM Joy, Velshi and Rule, various MSNBC shows (MSNBC); The NewsHour (PBS); The Tom Joyner Morning Show (syndicated radio); Washington Watch with Roland Martin (TV One); Showbiz Tonight (HLN); Hannity and Colmes and Fox and Friends (Fox News Channel).

Education

• Bachelor of Arts in political science and journalism from Indiana University

Talking Points

• Mass media
• Streaming services
• Media technology
• Music industry
• Pop culture
• Race and culture
• Television
• Social media
• Journalism
• Media ethics