Emerson Coleman, M.A.C. ‘78

When you look closely at people’s lives, it often reveals a more extraordinary story than you could possibly imagine. My own journey from the “sticks” of Leaksville, North Carolina, a town too small to make its way onto most maps, to a 44-story tower in midtown Manhattan was far from expected.

I’ve long appreciated being a little bit country and a little bit city, especially as I’ve had the opportunity over the years, and mostly for work as a field producer, to travel across every continent (except Antarctica — that’s not going to happen).

My family moved from North Carolina to Maryland when my dad, a printer, led the fight to integrate one of the major daily newspapers at the time and successfully broke the color line at the venerable Baltimore Sun.

My mother, a very accomplished teacher, always emphasized the value of education, so when I graduated from Brown University, there was a sense of accomplishment for our immediate family as well as our extended family.

There were no communications courses when I was at Brown. I recall a class in semiotics. That’s as close as I could get. Communication was barely a discipline, and I ended up majoring in English and American literature. Along the way, however, I took a course in French which focused on the New Wave. I was immersed in works by Godard, Rohmer, Chabrol, Rivette, and Truffaut, and that inspired and advanced my interest in photography and storytelling. I learned that the Annenberg School could be a place where I could develop my interests further, so I applied and was accepted to the MAC program. During my studies, I was fortunate to have Professors Sol Worth and Larry Gross as my advisors.

In Washington, D.C. after Annenberg, while still focused on film, I began freelancing at a local TV station in Baltimore. It turned out to be a better experience than I expected, and my landlord was especially happy that I could pay the rent. Over time, I climbed the ladder from production assistant to executive producer. It was the heyday of local TV, and the station was buzzing with talented producers and hosts from Maria Shriver to Oprah Winfrey.

I worked in Boston at WBZ and at two local stations in Baltimore, WJZ and WBAL. It was great on-the-job training. My last station title was director of broadcast operations, and to this day, no one knows what that really means, so some of everything falls on your desk. I was once assigned to represent the station for coverage of the Preakness Parade, only to walk into a room filled with every city agency, expecting that I would produce it. I quickly learned that making it up as you go was a requirement of the position. Around the same time, I launched a local show called “The Bottom Line,” on which former Annenberg School dean George Gerbner appeared twice as a guest.

I served on the executive leadership team at Hearst in New York for 23 years, retiring as Senior Vice President of programming in 2022. The following year, I was honored when the National Association of Broadcasters launched the Emerson Coleman Fellowship to nurture young people entering television careers.

One program that holds a special place is “Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien,” which I launched in 2015. We spun off a related series of four web specials titled “The Matter of Fact Listening Tour,” which included the episodes “The Hard Truth About Bias,” “To Be An American,” and “Promises of Change and Trailblazers, Troublemakers and Dreams.” In episodes of the half-hour weekly version of the show, we interviewed Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Michael X. Delli Carpini, each a former dean of the Annenberg School.

I’ve always felt that the School could make an even greater contribution to the content and business side of media than it already has.

I am encouraged about the ways a carefully constructed master’s program could provide an invaluable path for future content creators and, importantly, decision makers — especially at a time when so many fundamental issues, in terms of engagement, distribution and ownership and monetization are being revisited.

I’m very enthusiastic about being a part of the [Dean’s Advisory] Board. It’s a way to thank the School for what they have given me and to help pass that opportunity on to others.

As the traditional media environment is being upended, I am especially interested in identifying ways that the next generation can play a leadership role in addressing the foundational changes that will impact all of us. I also have very selfish reasons for visiting Philadelphia any chance I get.

While at Annenberg, I spent a lot of time studying and researching the city’s signature graffiti, and I still think it is fascinating. So, when I’m in town, I love to follow all of the colorful messaging and dialogue. Those walls still talk!