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AAPRC Weekly: Deborah Mathis

Deborah Mathis
Syndicated Columnist, Tribune Media
Managing Editor, Medill News Service
Washington DC

Syndicated columnist and veteran Washington reporter Deborah Mathis can hardly remember a time when she wasn't a journalist.

Technically speaking, her career began when she was just a teenager and a writer and editor for her junior high and high school newspapers. Right after graduation, she snagged a job at one of the state's leading dailies, The Arkansas Democrat, starting as a clerk and moving to general assignment reporter in little over a year. She's been a force to be reckoned with ever since.

In the early 1970s, American journalism was struggling with the notion of diversity. An FCC ruling ordered television news operations to diversify and news directors coast-to-coast scrambled for faces that weren't White and male. In 1973, the news director at Little Rock's CBS affiliate began calling Mathis, who hadn't considered television and wasn't particularly interested. The news director was persistent, though, and Mathis caved, joining KTHV-TV as a reporter. "I really hated it at first because I was so terrible at it," Mathis admits. "I wanted to quit right away…but I thought I needed to stay at least a year so it wouldn't look like I was fickle."

Mathis got better and less then two years later, WTTG-TV, the FOX affiliate in Washington, DC, lured her to the East Coast. Within six months she was anchoring the weekend news with another rising star––future talk show host Maury Povich. In 1976, soon after her arrival in Washington, Mathis and her then-husband had their first child, and the couple wanted to raise their children closer to family. So Mathis returned to Little Rock. After some time off, Mathis returned to television. Over the next several years she worked as a reporter, anchor, assignment editor and assistant news director at Little Rock's NBC and ABC affiliates. Mathis had become a leading figure among Arkansas journalists and was the only local reporter to travel to Iraq during the first Gulf War.

By 1988, Mathis had tired of television and returned to her newspaper roots, snagging a spot as a columnist at The Arkansas Gazette, the state's leading paper and winner of multiple Pulitzer Prizes. By 1990, she was the paper's associate editor but The Gazette was in trouble. Gannett had bought the paper and, in the midst of a fierce battle, sold it to its archrival, The Arkansas Democrat. It's now the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. "I was out of work for a couple of months, but I was really fortunate," says Mathis. "I had hot job offers from all over the country…I was really looking at California and some other places and then I get this call from an old friend who was executive editor of the only statewide paper in Mississippi."

Mississippi was not high on Mathis' list of favorite places, still, Mathis decided to hear what her friend had to say. "He came to town. We went to dinner. He told me what the paper was doing, what the mission was, what kind of staff it had. I came back home and told my husband, 'guess what? I want to go to Mississippi,'" Mathis recalls. "The paper had such a mission. I was only there for one year before Gannett then moved me to Washington to cover the Clinton White House, but it was the most rewarding, exciting, powerful year of my career."

Mathis and her family, which now included three children, relocated to Jackson, Mississippi where she became a columnist and editorial writer at The Clarion Ledger. She found Mississippians gracious. During her first week on the job, former governors and business and political leaders from every strata came by to take her to dinner and introduce themselves––urged, no doubt, by the fact that Mathis was the only staff columnist at the only statewide daily in the state. She enjoyed the warm welcome, but wasn't fully prepared for the reception her writing would receive. "As a columnist and editorial writer, I was used to creating some chatter with what I had written, so that maybe local radio talk show audiences would talk about it," says Mathis. "But what happened to me in Jackson was that I would write stuff and…legislation would change. The governor would call a news conference in response to something I had written. Things would happen or not happen and it was power I wasn't used to having. It scared the hell out of me at first."

In spite of the pressures, Mathis loved her work. "There was so much going on and so much work to do. It's a news rich state, always has been, still is…It was everything you could hope for," says Mathis. "The paper had purpose, to really enlighten…and I found a home there and would be there now, probably, if Bill Clinton hadn't won the Presidency."

Mathis had known Bill Clinton his entire political life. When the former Arkansas governor moved into the White House, Gannett News, which owned The Clarion Ledger, moved Mathis to Washington.

After her time in Mississippi, where her column could affect legislation, becoming a virtually anonymous member of the White House press corps took some getting used to. "From having a real free hand and kind of calling the shots to be at so many people's mercy was quite a shake-up," says Mathis of the press corps experience. "I hated the pack journalism more than anything…Someone could ask a question of the press secretary and he or she would say: 'okay, I'll tell you this on background,' meaning that you can't say that they're the one who told you. You can say 'a White House aid said,' that kind of thing, and the whole White House press corps just goes along with it…It is not just pack operation, it is a pack mentality."

In spite of the atmosphere among the press corps, Mathis is proud of the work she did during her Clinton White House years. She had an exclusive interview with the President at the end of his first term, and did impactful investigative journalism on some of Clinton's proposed appointees, who, in the end, were not approved by Congress. "I do not say, by any means, that they weren't confirmed because of my work alone," says Mathis. "But I contributed to the body of work that helped spare the country some bad actors."

Mathis remained with Gannett through the 2000 convention in Los Angeles, and then she quit. She walked away from the career she'd built, first, for a year-long Shorenstein Fellowship at Harvard, and then for a sudden relocation.

Mathis had a former colleague who was so enamored of Turkish culture, that he'd relocated to the Eastern European country a decade before and was a consultant with the country's government and business communities. The Turkish government was trying on Western-style democracy and looking for membership in the European Union (EU), and Mathis' friend invited her to come to Istanbul as the keynote speaker for a luncheon, where she would talk about the role of media in democracy. The luncheon was fine, but, more importantly, Mathis fell in love with the country and the people. So much so that she sold her house, packed her bags and moved to Istanbul. "I just kind of hung out there and made new friends," says Mathis. "I did some editing and just had a blast. I felt so at home. I feel so at home outside this country... I just have international blood or something."

She developed a strong connection to Istanbul, but her connection to family was stronger. When the Bush administration began to talk of war with Iraq, Mathis' children were frantic––Turkey is right next to Iraq. She didn't feel unsafe, but, for her children's sake, Mathis packed up and returned to the U.S. She spent six months visiting her mother in Florida and working on book projects like 2002's Yet a Stranger: Why Black Americans Still Don't Feel at Home (Warner Books), Sole Sisters: The Joys and Pains of Single Black Women (Warner Books), scheduled for release in 2005, and What God Can Do, a collection of stories about everyday miracles to be published by Simon and Schuster.

Initially, Mathis thought she'd stay in the U.S. just until the saber rattling died down. Instead, the situation in Iraq escalated and she realized she wouldn't be going back to Turkey anytime soon. Right away she decided against returning to reporting. "I'm too old. I don't want to walk backwards anymore. Run up steps. Shout at people," she admits. "I'm 51 now and I've been reporting for someone since I was 14…I'm tired."

Not that she's getting much rest these days, but instead of the grind of daily reporting, Mathis took a position with the prestigious graduate program at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. She teaches a class and is managing editor of the school's Medill News Service, a Washingtonbased national wire service staffed by Medill graduate students. Mathis also writes a twice-a-week editorial column syndicated by Tribune Media Services and a once-aweek column for radio host Tom Joyner's BlackAmericaweb.com. She is a regular cast member of "America's Black Forum," a weekly public affairs talk show that focuses on issues of importance to African- Americans.

When she's not working––and that's not often––Mathis just takes the opportunity to "veg" out. "I found this little online game where you pop these balloons…" she says with a laugh. "My kids say 'mama that's retarded' and I say 'look, I don't think about anything when I'm doing this. It helps me unwind, so back off.' One day I finally got all the balloons popped, which is really almost impossible, and I called my son in Dallas to tell him."

Mathis also stays in touch with her children, all grown now and scattered around the country. There are no grandchildren yet, but she's looking forward to them. She thinks she'd make a terrific grandmother.

She'll certainly have good bedtime stories to tell.

You've worked as a journalist for more than 30 years. What are the most significant changes you've observed in the relationship between media and the political process in this country?

The media have been seized by a pack mentality in political coverage––taking cues from certain national actors (The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post) as to what angle, line of questioning or issue should receive attention, how much, for how long and when. In addition, there are some troubling pacts within the pack––e.g., too many (and too easily made) agreements with political sources to keep them anonymous and therefore unaccountable.

In regards to the campaign for President, is there an issue (or issues) that you feel deserves closer scrutiny?

The real causes and effects of the national deficit. For sure, future generations will have plenty to cover in this area as the bills come due!

As politicians become increasingly media savvy and adept at manipulating media, how do citizens cull truth and important information from spin? What role do journalists play in helping distinguish fact from image?

Unfortunately, much of the media is more concerned with the pithy, catchy, memorable sound bite or exclusive bit of information than they are committed to the truth.

Heavy news cycles like this one––war, a Presidential election, economic turmoil––generate a mountain of news and information. What's your best advice for the average person, with limited leisure time, who really wants to stay informed on the less-sexy news as well as the headline-grabbing items?

I'm afraid there are no shortcuts to really staying on top of the news; it's so fast and fluid that you have to check in at least once every day to know what's up. Having said that, the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly and The Guardian are good sources for in-depth coverage of issues. Otherwise, talk to people you trust and respect; ask questions.

You lived outside of the U.S., in Turkey, for a while. How has that experience informed your work as a journalist?

I am painfully aware of what we (Americans) look like to the rest of the world. I spent the most time in Turkey, but I've spent time elsewhere too––all of them, supposedly friends of the U.S. We are not only blessed in this country, we are also spoiled and sheltered. Life is much more of a challenge, and much more inconvenient and haphazard, in other places. Some of our advantages have created their disadvantages. That disparity has informed my work.

What, in your career, are you most proud of?

Sticking with it. Never burning a source. Staying in touch with what's real.

As managing editor of the Medill School of Journalism's news service, you regularly work with rising young journalists. What would you tell your students is a journalist's greatest responsibility?

Being observant of human nature and trusting what they know about it. It will help them avoid making mountains out of molehills and vice versa by keeping life and its events in context.

As a syndicated columnist and observer of this country's cultural and political landscape, about what are you most optimistic?

I'm most hopeful that the next generation in power has the intelligence, the cool and the heart to clean up our mistakes and avoid repeating them.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Watching C-Span's "Washington Journal," watching CNN's "American Morning," reading the "A" section of the Washington Post, reading front page New York Times stories on the Web; (once a week) teaching a seminar on politics and government; meeting with reporters; editing copy; writing a column; cruising news sites on the Web; meetings and conference calls; working the crossword on the subway; dinner; answering emails; reading; shower and bed.

Tell us one thing people might be surprised to know about you.

I am a jazz musician (pianist and vocalist).

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