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AAPRC Weekly: William Marshall

William Marshall
2004 Director of African-American Media, Democratic National Committee
Managing Partner/Senior Producer, MJT Television
Washington DC

It's safe to say William Marshall has been nourished by media and politics his entire life. When the Chicago native was nine or ten, his father refereed professional basketball games and Marshall watched from the press box, quietly observing the sports reporters at work. There were politicians in the family, and in his teens Marshall was put to work making calls and helping to set up photo ops. He had no idea at the time that he was engaged in press work, but by the time college came around Marshall was clear. "I chose broadcast journalism and public affairs," he says. "It was never a question in my mind."

That certainty has never wavered. Marshall was appointed the 2004 director of African-American media by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and is a managing partner and senior executive producer of MJT Television, a Washington, DC-based production company. Between June and last week, his life revolved around the Kerry campaign and getting the DNC's message to African- Americans, a task it seems Marshall has prepared for his entire life. "We grew up as the lone Black family in the neighborhood, and I always felt the need to communicate to Anglos, to African-Americans, to Asians…to different people, different ways," says Marshall. "I knew early on how to sense that people wanted to be communicated to."

At Howard University, Marshall did an undergraduate degree in broadcast management and, as a college freshman, jumpstarted his professional life by snapping an internship with a Washington, DC city councilmember. By his junior year, Marshall had a job assisting the press secretary of the Department of Labor (DOL). His very first press conference there was the DOL's release of the study that revealed that a common building material, asbestos, contained cancer causing carcinogens. "That was my opportunity to learn what role the national media played in public information and public affairs," Marshall says.

After his undergraduate years, Marshall went directly into graduate studies at Howard, eventually earning a master of arts. in communications management/public policy. By the end of his first year in graduate school, though, Marshall took a break from classes, deciding he needed to learn how to raise money. He won a Ford Foundation Fellowship and spent a year working in development at Philadelphia's Temple University. He helped the university raise some $60,000, and returned to Washington for a job with Heath and Human Services Secretary Richard Schweicker. Marshall took up a near-Spartan lifestyle devoted entirely to work and school. "I would get up at four or five in the morning and be at my desk for six," he recalls. "I would go through the news clippings for all the issues involving health and social services, and either brief him [Schweicker] and/or deliver it to him at eight o'clock in the morning. I would be out of there by two and I could go to classes."

Before he finished his master's degree, Marshall took on yet another fellowship, this one with the Congressional Black Caucus. There, he was co-editor of a book the caucus produced on programs and procedures for the House Ways and Means Committee. Marshall also formed important friendships, most notably with the New York Congressman Charles Rangel, whom Marshall still counts as a mentor.

After finishing his graduate degree in 1987, Marshall spent several years as communications professional in the government arena––as director of communications for U.S. Representative Gus Savage (D-IL) and at NASA, as a manager and spokesperson for Space Science. Marshall also went on to serve on the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident.

The early nineties saw Marshall getting the opportunity to widen his professional scope. A Washington journalist he knew was working on a program on teens and sex for PBS. Marshall was tapped as a line producer and publicist. "I pulled in the new mayor, Sharon Pratt Kelly, and lo and behold she says on the TV show that's she's going to put condoms in all the high schools," Marshall remembers. "When she said it I grabbed the tape. I couldn't get it in my hands fast enough and get it to the newspapers." The program garnered extensive press, successful ratings and an Emmy nomination, and Marshall was off and running as a producer.

The year he did fundraising at Temple as a Ford Fellow, Marshall had envisioned putting his development skills to work for a large institution or corporation. In reality, his skill at raising money allowed him to move in a completely different direction. Marshall developed a relationship with the general manager at Howard University's WHUT-TV, a PBS affiliate, and the station encouraged him to produce programming that they would air and send out to other PBS affiliates around the country. Naturally, Marshall's ability to raise his own funds only strengthened this partnership.

Marshall's career as a producer shifted into high gear in 1995 when the Congressional Black Caucus invited the former fellow back to produce a series of projects for their 25th anniversary celebration. Marshall coordinated a deal among BET, PBS and the Caucus and produced a video for the anniversary dinner, a televised town hall meeting that aired on BET and PBS, and the Caucus' first ever national commercial. Marshall's fundraising skills were called into play as well. Officed in a town house provided by the Caucus, Marshall pulled together development assistants, audience development specialists and others to raised money for the project.

By 1999, Marshall's production company was making commercials, music videos and documentaries, like the prizewinning "Journey: The Black Astronaut," which aired on PBS. The film came, in part, out his experience at NASA years before. "I hadn't seen anything documenting the contribution of African-American astronauts, ever," says Marshall.

He went out and got funding for the program from major corporations like Texaco, Boeing and a company called SpaceHab, which specializes in space commerce and had, at the time, the first African-American to walk in space among its executives. "It was one of those projects that takes a life of its own," says Marshall. "Before I knew it I had $100,000 and I was able to produce the show."

Starting in 2000, Marshall spent a couple of years at Washington's WTTG-TV doing commercials, promos and special projects for the FOX affiliate, and then, in 2002, he was having a conversation with Congressman Bobby Rush (D-IL). Rush, who represented Marshall's district back in Chicago, mentioned that he needed a new press secretary. Marshall offered to help him find someone and Rush suggested that Marshall himself take the job. Marshall was reluctant at first because he was working on other projects. "We talked and after a couple weeks he [Rush] said 'you need to come on in here with me. We got some things we need to do here,'" Marshall recalls.

Rush had introduced legislation that would reopen the infamous Emmett Till murder case from the 1950s, and Marshall was charged with stirring media and the public interest in the issue. "It got a lot of attention in Chicago and eventually got the attention of the Justice Department," says Marshall. The Justice Department announced in May 2004 that it was reopening the case.

Soon after his work with the Emmett Till campaign, Marshall was pressed into service for an even bigger effort––the Kerry-Edwards campaign for the White House. "The DNC was looking for an aggressive approach to communicate to African-Americans," says Marshall. "I'm really out there. All of my work is in your face. They'd heard about the Emmett Till piece."

Now that the election is over, Marshall returns to MJT and three or four projects waiting in the wings that he can't discuss just yet. The production company plans to branch out into feature film and music videos––they produced R&B singer Babyface's "For the Cool in You" video in 1993––while continuing their work with documentaries and commercial television spots. In the past, they've produced films on violence and street gangs and commercials for clients ranging from the Consumer Electronics Association to Clairol to the National Medical Association. "We love doing commercials," says Marshall. "We think we have a knack for telling a story in 30 seconds or less and an exciting way to do it."

Still, for Marshall, politics is the main course. "I still feel a need to make up for some of the gains we've lost in the past three or four years during the Bush administration," said Marshall pre-election. Which now, of course, means that much more make-up work.

In the meantime, though, there will be a moment to recover from the viciously-fought campaign. He looks forward to spending some time in the home theatre he's installed in the 140-year-old Victorian he bought recently in Washington. There's the matter of the new puppy that has seen more of Marshall's housekeeper than it has of its owner. Also, he travels to Chicago frequently where he's close to his sisters, brothers-inlaws, nieces and nephews. "I'm home every month or so and I carpool, take them [nieces and nephews] to activities," says Marshall proudly. "I'm a very good uncle."

As a communications specialist in the political arena, what advice do you offer clients trying to navigate media relationships?

Be honest with the media. If you lie they will not trust you again. Keep relationships fair, honest, and accurate. Always get budgets, overhead and fees and retainers agreed to and written in a letter of agreement--BEFORE any real work starts. It's really not complicated.

When you look at the relationship between media and politics in the current election season, do you think the public has been well-served?

I think the hard news media could do more of their own research, instead of relying on information, i.e., background, talking points, and other materials given to them from interview subjects.

Some would say that many Americans have become increasingly cynical about political leaders and the image they project in the media. Do you agree? If so, is there a particular strategy that you employ to combat this?

People elect who they feel comfortable with. When you look at the House of Representatives, they truly represent the people who voted them in…Any elected official I work with must be ethical, project a professional and favorable image, or I can't work with them.

You've worked behind the scenes in the 2004 campaign for President. Is there an important story you think mainstream media has missed or ignored?

That while every group in America––women, White men, Catholics, Hispanics––let President Bush gain more than 9, 12 or sometimes 15 percent more of their vote than in 2000, African-Americans not only held Bush back at 11 percent in 2004, he only got 8 percent in 2000. And we are seeing that half of the 3 percent came from Blacks who were voting morality issues and not issues of healthcare, jobs, and education. The Congressional Black Caucus picked up four additional seats and maintained a seat in Georgia went the state went to George Bush.

In your work as a press secretary, what's a typical day like for you?

You start off reading all the newspapers, web sites, and listening to radio and watching television news shows that will have some affect on your work that day. From there you implement your media schedule for the day and plan the days, weeks and months of media activities before you go home for the day.

Professionally, what's been your greatest challenge?

My work for the DNC.

What's the most satisfying aspect of your work?

That I can pick up the phone and talk to major television, radio, print and Internet reporters and put the best face on an issue and or public figure.

What advice do you have for young people who want to get into the communications end of politics? What are some of the dos and don'ts?

Advice for young people entering into this field: Be technically proficient at your job, ALWAYS remain professional, be respectful and credible at all times. Don't drink on the job, even at professional receptions. Don't be familiar with the principal and/or his family and friends (unless there is a past relationship, and then you probably should not be in the position). Don't be late for meetings, hearings––appointments in general. Higher education, graduate/advanced degrees are important.

Are you a news junkie?

You almost have to be in this job. You not only have to be able to discuss what is going on in the world, but information is power. I wake up in the morning with at least three televisions on listening to a couple of news shows and have some radio programs playing in the background.

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

That although I do interviews with radio, television, print and Internet reporters all day long, and either travel, know and talk to a lot of people around the world during the course of the day––I am basically a shy, introverted homebody.

AAPRC's Mission
The African-American Public Relations Collective (AAPRC) is an assemblage of professionals who provide communication conduits among clients, journalists, media and our communities. We come together as a collective because we recognize the importance of building those same conduits amongst ourselves.

A great deal of what we do is professional development––updating our skills, keeping pace with technology, refining and streamlining processes, providing a forum to tackle the issues that impact our work environment––but we believe our professional lives benefit most from the forging of effective alliances. Connected to one another, we possess the power of a nationwide body of committed, knowledgeable practitioners with an eye on the future.

As we move into the 21st century at lightning speed, mass media and its potent messages occupy an ever-larger part of our daily lives and our collective psyche. The AAPRC is focused on helping our members gain a deeper understanding of media's force and supporting their growth as powerful participants in the global communications network.

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