Walter Ratliff is an American journalist and religious studies scholar based at the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Education

Ratliff earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and religious studies from the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

, a Master of Arts in communication from Wheaton College, a Master of Business Administration from

University of Maryland Global Campus The University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) is a public university in College Park, Maryland, and the largest institution in the University System of Maryland. Established in 1947 as the College of Special and Continuation Studies of the U ...

, and a Master of Arts in Islam and Muslim–Christian relations and

Doctor of Liberal Studies The Doctor of Liberal Studies degree, abbreviated (D.L.S.), for the Latin Doctor Liberalium Studiorum, is an advanced academic degree offered by Georgetown University, Southern Methodist University, University of Memphis and other research unive ...

in religion and social movements from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

Career

He began his broadcasting career at

KLYT KLYT (88.3 MHz) is a non-commercial FM radio station broadcasting a Christian talk and teaching radio format, branded as "The Light." The principal station is in Albuquerque, with two FM translators and two repeaters around New Mexico. The s ...

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

, and his journalism career at

KOAT-TV KOAT-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on Carlisle Boulevard in Northeast Albuquerque, ...

. Ratliff has worked as a documentary consultant and researcher for German television, including

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

and

Arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

. At the

, he produced a series of documentary reports on Islam in Egypt’s

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

, Great Britain’s immigrant community, and America’s prisons. He also won a "Beat of the Week" award for his work on AP's Pope John Paul II multimedia profile. In 2001, Ratliff pioneered the use of online video for the Associated Press in Washington, DC, becoming the first to produce reports from the company's Broadcast News Center. His online AP reports were regularly featured on the landing page of major news organizations, including the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' and

Yahoo Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, an ...

News. Prior to joining AP, he covered Capitol Hill for

Christianity Today ''Christianity Today'' is an evangelical Christian media magazine founded in 1956 by Billy Graham. It is published by Christianity Today International based in Carol Stream, Illinois. ''The Washington Post'' calls ''Christianity Today'' "eva ...

, produced a documentary on Muslim-Christian violence in

Northern Nigeria Northern Nigeria (or Arewa, Arewancin Nijeriya) was an autonomous division within Nigeria, distinctly different from the southern part of the country, with independent customs, foreign relations and security structures. In 1962, it acquired t ...

, and covered the funeral of executed human rights leader

Ken Saro-Wiwa Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa (10 October 1941 – 10 November 1995) was a Nigerians, Nigerian writer, teacher, television producer, and social rights activist. Saro-Wiwa was a member of the Ogoni people, an ethnic minority in Nigeria whose homeland ...

in the

Niger Delta The Niger Delta is the delta of the Niger River sitting directly on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean in Nigeria. It is located within nine coastal southern Nigerian states, which include: all six states from the South South geopolitic ...

region. He also worked closely with Arabs, Israelis and Europeans delivering news from the United States. In 2024, Ratliff won the

Religion Communicators Council The Religion Communicators Council is an American nonprofit organization representing marketing, communications and public relations officers from 60 different faith-based institutions in the United States. Founded in 1929 as the Religious Publicit ...

's highest honor, the Wilbur Award, with AP Reporter Allen Breed for a report on guns in American churches, as well as an additional Award of Excellence from the organization for another report that year. In 2023, he won an Award of Merit from the RCC for the Sacred Rivers episode of the weekly AP Religion Roundup audio feature. In 2016 and 2018, he was awarded first place for national network news religion reporting by the Religion News Association. In 2011, he won a nonfiction gold medal in the Reader's Favorite book awards for ''Pilgrims on the Silk Road: A Muslim-Christian Encounter in Khiva.'' He was also the producer/director of the documentary, ''Through the Desert Goes Our Journey: The Mennonite Trek to Khiva,'' for which he won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

from the Heartland chapter of the

NATAS The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), also known as the National Television Academy until 2007, is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of television ...

. His most recent book is ''Between Faith and Power: Religious Freedom as Dynamic Engagement.'' Since 2011, Ratliff has been an adjunct professor at the

References

External links

*
Personal website

Profile at The Kansan.com

"Bethel Musicians’ Contribution Wins Emmy for Documentary" Bethel College News, July 20, 2010."Field Work Grounded in the Classroom," The Hoya, January 15, 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratliff, Walter Georgetown University alumni Wheaton College (Illinois) alumni Living people Associated Press reporters Year of birth missing (living people)