Professor Gary E. Swanson sits down with Dr Joseph Haldane, IAFOR President & CEO, to discuss his career in Journalism and his experiences as an academic in China. Professor Swanson was Conference Chair and Featured Speaker at The European Conference on Media & Mass Communication 2014 (EuroMedia2014) in Brighton, England.
Professor Gary E. Swanson
Gary E. Swanson is the former Mildred S. Hansen Endowed Chair and Distinguished Journalist-in-Residence at the University of Northern Colorado, USA. From 2005-2007 Professor Swanson was a Fulbright scholar to China and lectured at Tsinghua University and the Communication University of China. In summer 2008 he was Commentator for China Central Television International (CCTV-9) and their live coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games. Swanson repeated his assignment covering the London Olympics for CCTV-4 in the summer of 2012. Previously, he was professor and director of television for nine years at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University where he taught mostly graduate broadcast students. He has been an educator for 26 years; 20 years spent teaching at the university level. Swanson is an internationally recognised and highly acclaimed documentary producer, director, editor, photojournalist, consultant and educator. He has given keynote speeches, presented workshops and lectured at embassies, conferences, festivals, and universities throughout China, South Africa, India, Papua New Guinea, Japan, The Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Greece, Germany, Jordan, Spain, Portugal, Peru, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Swanson has compiled a distinguished professional broadcast career spanning 13 years: From 1978 to 1991, Swanson worked for the National Broadcasting Company where he was honored with national EMMY’s for producing and editing: ‘The Silent Shame,’ a prime-time investigative documentary; ‘Military Medicine,’ a two-part investigative series on NBC News; and ‘Hotel Crime,’ an investigative news magazine piece. Swanson was an editor for ‘breaking news’ and features for NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, the Today Show, Sunrise, Sunday Today, NBC Overnight, A Closer Look, Monitor and other prime time news magazines. Swanson covered ‘breaking news’ in 26 states and Canada for the network including trips and campaigns of presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton. Swanson was the Fulbright distinguished lecturer and consultant in television news to the government of Portugal in 1989. In 1992, he covered the XXV Olympics in Barcelona, Spain for NBC News as field producer and cameraman. Swanson has earned more than 75 awards for broadcast excellence and photojournalism including three national EMMY’s, the duPont Columbia Award, two CINE ‘Golden Eagles,’ 16 TELLY’s, the Monte Carlo International Award, the Hamburg International Media Festival’s Globe Award, the Videographer Award, The Communicator Award, the Ohio State Award, the CINDY Award, the 2011 Communitas Outstanding Professor and Educator award, the 2013 Professor of the Year award and many others. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana with a Bachelor’s degree in Education in 1974 and a Master’s degree in Journalism in 1993.
