2024 BEA Lifetime Achievement in Scholarship Presented to Michael D. Murray, Ph.D.
For Immediate Release: February 27, 2024
Contact: Heather Birks |
Washington, D.C. – Michael D. “Mike” Murray, University of Missouri Board of Curators’ Distinguished Professor Emeritus on the UM-St. Louis campus has been awarded the 2024 Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Lifetime Achievement in Scholarship Award.
For over a half-century Murray has been a leader in program development and the initiation of new academic degrees in appointments he has held at: Virginia Tech (1974-76); University of Louisville (1976-82); University of Missouri-St. Louis (1982-2017) and as Founding Director of the Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (2005-2006)
Murray received undergraduate and graduate degrees in Communication at St. Louis University. As a graduate teaching assistant, he was news director of the campus radio station while working part-time for CBS News. Upon completion of his master’s degree, he received a commission as a U.S. Army Reserve Officer from the Gateway Battalion at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. He completed his military service as a Captain in the U.S. Army Signal Corps at Fort Knox, KY.
He wrote his doctoral dissertation at the University of Missouri-Columbia, fifty years ago – in 1974 about Edward R. Murrow’s CBS “See It Now” television series. He also published an interview with former CBS News President Fred W. Friendly in the inaugural issue of “Journalism History” and delivered his first research paper at the annual meeting of the BEA in Las Vegas. That paper focused on Alistair Cooke’s documentary series, “America.” An abbreviated version of that paper, entitled “AMERICA: Cooke’s Tour,” published in “Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.”
Dr. Murray joined Virginia Tech’s faculty in 1974. At that time, media-related courses were located in a Department of Performing Arts and Communication. Under Murray’s leadership, a separate Department of Communication with a major media component was formed, a bachelor’s degree was approved and faculty were recruited. In 1976 , Murray joined the University of Louisville faculty where he founded another academic unit and authored a new bachelor’s degree. He also oversaw production of a public affairs program for WAVE-TV (NBC) and became the first person tenured in Communication at U of L (1980). He returned to the Missouri University system in 1982 as a tenured professor and advisor to the Chancellor overseeing a 100,000-watt NPR radio station, KWMU. Five years later, on the fortieth anniversary of Missouri’s first TV station in 1987, KSD-TV (NBC) now KSDK, he wrote a station history which was excerpted in the “St. Louis Post-Dispatch.”
Dr. Murray’s eight books include: “The Political Performers;” “Television in America” with Donald G. Godfrey; “Indelible Images: Women of Local Television” with Mary Beadle; the “Encyclopedia of Television News” containing three hundred entries authored by over one hundred contributing scholars; and a college text, “Media Law and Ethics.” The first college textbook to highlight ethical decision-making as well as law and regulation, co-authored with Roy Moore. Murray also co-edited two books to improve teaching in the field: “Mass Communication Education,” also with Moore and “Teaching Mass Communication” with Anthony Ferri. Another college text, “Prime Time Pioneers,” issued by Mizzou Publishing with all royalties going to student scholarships.
He served as Review and Criticism Editor for BEA’s “Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media,” including recruitment of contributing authors for the research tributes in Volume 50 (March 2006) on the occasion of the publication’s fiftieth anniversary. He also served on the advisory board for what is now the “Gateway Journalism Review,” and corresponding editor for “Journalism History.” He authored the introductory chapter “Research Strategies” in the “Guide to Sources in American Journalism History” by Lucy Caswell and a chapter on handling “Oral History Records” for the graduate level textbook by Don Godfrey, “Methods of Historical Analysis in Electronic Media.”
Dr. Murray is a founding member and former President of the American Journalism Historians Association and recipient of that organization’s Sidney Kobre Distinguished Service Award. He also functions as long-time member of the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) for Mid America, serving as a frequent Committee Chair, Program Planner and EMMY Awards Judge. He was elected as the first Governor Emeritus of that organization (2018) and has also held post-doctoral fellowships at: University of California-San Diego (NEH); Stanford University (American Press Institute); University of London (Institute of U.S. Studies); Columbia University (The Freedom Forum); and Dr. Frank Stanton Fellow, (IRTS). He was honored with a Goldsmith Research Award from the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University and Ed Bliss Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Over the years, he has published interviews with many of America’s TV news leaders focusing on historic broadcasts, including: Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather. As president of the American Journalism Historians’ Association, he joined the effort to have the memory of Edward R. Murrow honored with a U.S. Postage Stamp and hosted a “first day of issue” ceremony along with the U.S. Postal Service on his campus on the occasion, January 27, 1994. He is currently working on behalf of NATAS and some other organizations to have the contributions of Walter Cronkite, a native of St. Joseph, Missouri, also honored with a U.S. Postage Stamp.
BEA’s Lifetime Achievement in Scholarship recognizes significant contributions to research and scholarship involving broadcast and electronic media. Recipients are evidenced by related extensive publication in books and leading journals, for at least twenty years. The LAS will be awarded to Dr. Murray at BEA’s annual convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center during a ceremony and reception on the evening of Saturday, April 13. He will give a formal presentation preceding the awards ceremony focusing on his research about the history of broadcast news.
About the BEA Convention – BEA’s annual convention is held in conjunction with NAB Show in Las Vegas every spring. Located at the Las Vegas Convention Center, BEA’s annual convention attracts 1,200 educators and students with 250 sessions, events, research panels, technology workshops and an exhibit hall, making BEA the largest conference partner of NAB Show.
About the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) – BEA is the premiere international academic media organization, driving insights, excellence in media production, and career advancement for educators, students, and professionals. There are currently more than 2,300 individual and institutional members worldwide. Visit www.beaweb.org for more information.
