David Lee Zurawik (born October 26, 1949) is an American journalist, writer, and professor. He has been the TV and media critic at ''

The Baltimore Sun ''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local, regional, national, and international news. Founded in 1837, the newspaper was owned by Tribune Publi ...

'' since 1989 and is a professor of communications and media studies at

Goucher College Goucher College ( ') is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Towson, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1885 as a Nonsectarian, nonsecterian Women's colleges in the United States, ...

. Before that, Zurawik was a TV critic/columnist at the ''

Dallas Times Herald The ''Dallas Times Herald'', founded in 1888 by a merger of the '' Dallas Times'' and the '' Dallas Herald'', was once one of two major daily newspapers serving the Dallas, Texas ( USA) area. It won three Pulitzer Prizes, all for photography, an ...

''. Zurawik is the author of '' The Jews of Prime Time''.

Early life and education

Zurawik was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family and earned a master's degree in specialized reporting from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

and a doctorate in

American studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, History of the United States, history, Society of the United States, society, and Culture of the Unit ...

from the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

. His dissertation in 2000 was titled ''The Jews of prime time: Ethnicity, self-censorship and assimilation in network television, 1949–1999''. His doctoral advisor was Lawrence E. Mintz.

Career

After completing graduate school, Zurawik first worked as a speech writer and press secretary for Wisconsin's Democratic lieutenant governor. He then worked as a reporter and critic for the ''

'' before joining ''

'' in 1989 as its television critic. His syndicated column runs in other newspapers, including the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. In 2008, he became the lead writer for ''The Baltimore Sun'' TV blog, Z on TV. He has written pieces for the ''

American Journalism Review The ''American Journalism Review'' (''AJR'') was an American magazine covering topics in journalism. It was launched in 1977 as the ''Washington Journalism Review'' by journalist Roger Kranz. It ceased publication in 2015. History and profile T ...

''. In 2017, he began writing articles for the ''

Telegraph-Journal The ''Telegraph-Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, owned by Postmedia Network. It serves as both a provincial daily and as a local newspaper for Saint John. The ''Telegraph-Journal'' is the only New ...

''. Zurawik worked for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in the 1970s and the Detroit Free Press in the late-'70-s-early 80s, where he was a feature writer and TV critic. Zurawik has been a guest on the CNN public affairs talk show ''Reliable Sources'', and has also appeared on

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

shows such as "

Fox & Friends ''Fox & Friends'' is an American daily morning conservative news and talk program that airs on Fox News and reruns on Fox.Thompson, Ethan, and Jason Mittell. "Fox & Friends: Political Talk." ''How to Watch Television.'' 168-76. Print. It premie ...

," "

The O'Reilly Factor ''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October 7 ...

" and " On the Record with Greta Van Susteren." In addition to his position with the ''Baltimore Sun'', Zurawik is a communications and media studies assistant professor at

Towson, Maryland Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorpo ...

. He is also an editor for

SAGE Publications Sage Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent academic publishing company, founded in 1965 in New York City by Sara Miller McCune and now based in the Newbury Park neighborhood of Thousand Oaks, California. Sage ...

Books

Zurawik is the author of '' The Jews of Prime Time'' (2003). After that book was published, Zurawik reported that he was working on a biography of

Gertrude Berg Gertrude Berg (born Tillie Edelstein; October 3, 1899 – September 14, 1966) was an American actress, screenwriter, and producer. A pioneer of classic old-time radio, radio, she was one of the first women to create, write, produce, and star in a ...

based on records stored at

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

Awards and honors

In 2015, Zurawik won the National Press Club's Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism in print. Also in 2015, he was named a finalist in the Best Commentary category of the Mirror Awards, presented by

's Newhouse School of Public Communications. In 2016, he took home a first-place Excellence-in-Features award from the Society for Features Journalism in the Blog Portfolio category. In 2017, he won another Arthur Rowse Award for press criticism, a National Press Club award. In June 2017, he was given a third-place Arts & Entertainment award by the Society for Features Journalism. In 2018, he won the Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism from Penn State University.

References

External links

*
David Zurawik
at

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...