MURFREESBORO — Longtime Midstate journalist Pat Embry is the new director
of MTSU’s John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies,
bringing decades of experience with Nashville newspapers to help the College of
Mass Communication expand national awareness of First Amendment issues.
"Pat
Embry brings a wealth of experience in journalism and a strong commitment to
the First Amendment as he takes on this new role," said Ken Paulson, dean
of the College of Mass Communication.
“He'll be
a great mentor for our student journalists and help us build national visibility
for our national First Amendment education efforts.”
“I've long
admired John Seigenthaler’s relentless commitment to First Amendment awareness
and education, and working with college interns always has been one of my
favorite roles as a newspaper editor,” said Embry, a Nashville resident and
former editor at the Nashville Banner and The Tennessean.
“Directing
the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies at MTSU
combines the two. It's a wonderful opportunity and a perfect fit for this stage
in my career.”
Embry rose
from sports writer to executive editor in a nearly 20-year career at the
Nashville Banner and joined The Tennessean after the Banner closed in 1998.
During his seven-year tenure with The Tennessean, Embry served as entertainment
editor, oversaw editorial operations for six Middle Tennessee community
newspapers and developed and launched “The Rage,” a free weekly entertainment
printed guide and website.
Before
coming to MTSU, Embry worked as editorial director for Magellan Press in
Brentwood, leading operations and managing content for iTunes’ top paid mobile
dining app, LocalEats, and its companion website since 2008. He also wrote,
marketed and managed distribution for Magellan’s successful dining guidebook
“Where the Locals Eat-Nashville” from 2005 to 2008.
Embry’s
extensive civic and community work includes service as deputy chair of the
Freedom of Information committee of the Tennessee Press Association; membership
in Leadership Nashville and Leadership Music, including a stint as Leadership
Music’s board president; and participation in the Nashville Convention and
Visitors Bureau’s Tourism Task Force. He earned his journalism degree from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
MTSU
established the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment
Studies in 1986 to honor the iconic journalist’s lifelong commitment to free
expression. The Seigenthaler Chair supports a variety of activities related to
free speech, free press rights and other topics of concern for contemporary
journalism, including distinguished visiting professors and visiting lecturers
at MTSU, research related to free expression, seminars and meetings dedicated
to expressive freedom and hands-on training for student journalists through the
Seigenthaler News Service.
Seigenthaler,
who passed away July 11 at age 86, was a reporter, editor, publisher and CEO of
The Tennessean as well as an administrative assistant for then-U.S. Attorney
General Robert F. Kennedy. After serving as founding editorial director for USA
Today, he established the First Amendment Center in Nashville in 1991.
The list
of people who’ve served as chairholder for the Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence
at MTSU reads like a Who's Who of media and includes Wallace Westfeldt, former
producer for NBC and ABC News; Bill Kovach, former editor of The New York Times
and curator of the Nieman Fellowships at Harvard; Tom Wicker, former columnist
for The New York Times; John Henry Faulk, humorist and popular CBS radio personality
blacklisted during the Red Scare and a hero of free expression rights; Jim
Squires, former editor of The Chicago Tribune; author and journalist Wallace
Terry; television journalist Sander Vanocur; former U.S. News & World
Report Washington bureau chief John Mashek; and Seigenthaler himself.
Embry
joins three current MTSU professors who also have helmed the Seigenthaler
Chair: Chris Clark, one of the longest-tenured TV anchors in American history
with 41 years at WTVF-TV, whose advocacy for public information access led the
Tennessee Supreme Court to allow TV cameras in the state's courtrooms; Beverly
Keel, entertainment journalist and music industry executive who now leads
MTSU's Department of Recording Industry; and Wendell "Sonny" Rawls,
Pulitzer Prize winner for investigative reporting at the Philadelphia Inquirer
and a former director of the Center for Public Integrity's International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
“My only regret is that I arrive too late to work with John directly,”
Embry said. “I can't help but think he'll be here in spirit, though. It's a
challenging but enviable job to spend each day helping to continue John
Seigenthaler's legacy of relentless passion for, and commitment to, our First
Amendment freedoms and for journalistic fairness, justice and truth-telling.”
Learn more
about MTSU’s John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies
at http://www.mtsu.edu/masscomm/chair_mc.php.
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