Deborah Mathis


Deborah Myers Mathis is an African-American journalist and author. Her journalism career began as a reporter for the Arkansas Democrat, a major newspaper in Arkansas. She also worked in television news in Little Rock and Washington. She was White House correspondent for the Gannett News Service. 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, Arkansas on August 24,1953 to Rev Lloyd Myers and Rachel Myers Jones. She attended Central High School, where she was the first black and first female editor of the school's newspaper. She studied journalism at the University of Arkansas.

Career

In 1973, Mathis became a reporter for Channel 11 Dateline News. She was also a reporter for newspapers Arkansas Democrat and the Arkansas Gazette, and TV stations KARK-Channel 4 and KATV-Channel 7. From 1993 to 2000 she was the White House correspondent for Gannett.
Mathis is a regular commentator on America's Black Forum and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services. In 2002, she published her first book, Yet a Stranger: Why Black Americans Still Don't Feel at Home, which met with mixed reviews.
Mathis is an assistant professor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

Personal life

Mathis lives with her husband and children in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Publications

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