Deborah Myers Mathis (born 24 August 1953) is an American journalist and author. Her journalism career began as a

reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

for the ''

Arkansas Democrat The ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell. It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas's counties. By virtue of one o ...

'', a major newspaper in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. She also worked in

television news News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or tel ...

in Little Rock and

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. She was

White House correspondent The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor ...

for the

Gannett News Service Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as severa ...

. She returned to Arkansas and newspaper journalism at the ''Arkansas Gazette'' as an editorial columnist and associate editor.

Early life and education

Mathis was born in

Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

on August 24, 1953, to Rev. Lloyd H. Myers and Rachel A. Helms Myers. She attended Gibbs Elementary, Rightsell Elementary, Westside Junior High, and Little Rock Central High School, where she was the first

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

and first female editor of the school's newspaper.

Career

In 1973, Mathis became a reporter for Channel 11 Dateline News. Her career includes work as a reporter for the ''Arkansas Democrat'' and the ''Arkansas Gazette'' (now merged into the ''

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette The ''Arkansas Democrat-Gazette'' is the newspaper of record in the U.S. state of Arkansas, printed in Little Rock with a northwest edition published in Lowell. It is distributed for sale in all 75 of Arkansas's counties. By virtue of one ...

''), and TV stations KARK-Channel 4 and KATV-Channel 7. She was also a columnist for the ''Arkansas Gazette'', and the first Black member of the ''Arkansas Gazette'' editorial board. From 1993 to 2000 she was the White House correspondent for Gannett. In 2000, she was selected as a Fall Fellow at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government to examine the role of race in press coverage in a case study. Throughout the 1990s, Mathis was a fixture on TV news and current event talk shows, including

America's Black Forum ''America's Black Forum'' is a nationally syndicated weekly news broadcast targeted to an African American audience. The show started in 1977, and is one of the longest running U.S. syndicated television series. As of 2021, the new series is ho ...

and Oprah, and was a nationally syndicated columnist for

Tribune Media Services Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media ...

. She has also appeared as a commentator on ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

''. Mathis was an assistant professor at

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism (branded as Northwestern Medill; formally the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications) is the journalism school of Northwestern University. It offers both undergraduate and graduat ...

. from 2003 to 2006.

Works

* * * *

Honors and awards

* 2003, inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame

Personal life

Now a freelance writer, Mathis lives in McLean, Virginia. She has three adult children and three granddaughters.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mathis, Deborah 1953 births Living people American women journalists African-American women writers African-American writers Writers from Little Rock, Arkansas People from Chevy Chase, Maryland 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women Arkansas Democrat-Gazette people