Jump to content

Terry Phillips

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the American college athletics administrator, see Terry Don Phillips.

Terry Phillips is an American journalist, author and media consultant. As a foreign correspondent, he covered events around the world for CBS News,[1] and reported regularly for NPR,[2] MonitoRadio and the NBC/Mutual Broadcasting System. Phillips was a contributor to the Hellenic Journal. He also provides analysis for such publications as the San Francisco Chronicle[3] and The Bakersfield Californian.[4] For ten years, he co-hosted the Armenia Fund global telethon.[5]

A portrait of Terry Phillips.
Phillips in 2012

Early career

[edit]

In 1976, Phillips began working at KTEH, the public television affiliate in Silicon Valley. He ran the station's video services department.[citation needed] He produced feature stories and presented documentary reports for such programs as “Tomorrow/Today,” an innovative science and technology magazine series on PBS.[6][7]

Phillips operated the public access television station for Gill Cable TV in 1977.[8]

Network news reporting

[edit]

Prompted by the 1988 earthquake in Armenia, Phillips traveled to the Soviet Union and began reporting for NBC/Mutual radio. He was one of the first journalists to cover fighting in the Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabagh and the border war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.[9][10]

Following the 1990 Iraq invasion of Kuwait, Phillips reported the first Gulf conflict from Baghdad. He re-located to Moscow to cover the collapsing USSR and was dispatched to Afghanistan, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Haiti.[11]

Omnipoint

[edit]

Phillips left daily news reporting in 1996 and entered the world of high technology. He was hired as public affairs director for Omnipoint Communications, a GSM wireless service provider.[12] In that capacity, he also served as an international advocate for the GSM Association, a London-based trade organization for the world's wireless operators. While at Omnipoint, Phillips led the department dealing with company communications, media relations and public affairs. He was a member of the President's Council and published Wireless Etiquette (Omnipoint Books, 1999), the world's first guide to the polite use of instant communications devices, which was written by Peter Laufer. He was a champion of wireless security, challenging claims that GSM conversations were vulnerable to eavesdropping.[13] In 1999, Omnipoint merged with VoiceStream Wireless (now part of T-Mobile).[14]

Murder at the Altar

[edit]

Phillips moved back to California in 2000. He began a five-year investigation into the assassination of Ghevont Tourian, the Armenian Archbishop who was stabbed to death in a New York City church on Christmas Eve Sunday morning in 1933, an event which continues to divide Armenians worldwide. That research led Phillips to write a historical novel, Murder at the Altar (Hye Books, 2008).[15][16] An anonymous letter to the editor of the Asbarez newspaper called Phillips “an agent of discord” [2]</ref>[17] A panel discussion of this topic took place at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) in Belmont, Mass.

Valley Public Radio

[edit]

In 2005, Phillips returned to his birthplace, and for five years he hosted “Quality of Life,” an interview/news talk series on Valley Public Radio, the NPR stations in Central California.[18][19][20][21] In June 2009, he broadcast the program live from Yerevan, Armenia.

In February 2011, during a series of scandals involving NPR, Phillips wrote an op-ed published in The Fresno Bee[22] and the Bakersfield Californian,[23] critical of financial influences on news content. A week later, he was fired.[24] This prompted public reaction from listeners.[25]

Phillips is the author of Off the Air: Thoughts About Our Quality of Life (Hye Books, 2011), a compilation of his radio commentaries.

Congressional campaign

[edit]

In November 2011, Phillips announced that he had formed an exploratory committee to run for Congress in the newly redistricted 23rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.[26] He became an official candidate on March 9, 2012[27] challenging incumbent Rep. Kevin McCarthy.[28][29] He came in second in the June 5 primary election, assuring him a spot on the November 6 runoff ballot.[30][31] A newcomer to electoral politics, Phillips ran with no party affiliation.[32] He garnered more than 57,000 votes — nearly 27 percent of the total.[33]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Video clips of Terry Phillips reporting from various datelines on CBS News.
  2. ^ "Clovis Family Mourns Death" NPR, Aug. 23, 2007
  3. ^ "U.S. Asking for Trouble" The San Francisco Chronicle, March 10, 2002
  4. ^ "In defense of free speech and Helen Thomas" The Bakersfield Californian, June 16, 2010
  5. ^ Armenia Fund press release Archived 2011-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, November 23, 2007
  6. ^ "KTEH". YouTube.
  7. ^ Master class with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf (VHS tape, 1990). [WorldCat.org]. 2019-01-04. OCLC 430372186. Retrieved 2022-06-11.
  8. ^ Gill Line newsletter, issue 14, page 3
  9. ^ https://www.charlesherrold.org/NewCDHPix/GrebStory.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  10. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Nagorno Karabagh. YouTube.
  11. ^ "CBS News - YouTube". YouTube.
  12. ^ "Researchers Crack Code" The New York Times, Dec. 7, 1999
  13. ^ See RCR Wireless Viewpoint column by Tracy Ford, Dec. 13, 1999 (“Go Terry!”). www.rcrwireless.com/ ARTICLE/19991213/SUB/912130726/viewpoint
  14. ^ "Voicestream and Omnipoint Announce $3 Billion Merger" NY Times, June 24, 1999
  15. ^ "Controversial Novel Arrives in Moscow and Yerevan" AZG Daily, Feb. 25, 2009. This review was in the independent website Hetq [1]
  16. ^ Murder at the Altar: A Historical Novel. Hye Books. 30 April 2011.
  17. ^ Terry Phillips interview at Red Room Archived 2008-06-16 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ "P&F Campaign 2008: News Item: KVPR Quality of Life 1/29/08".
  19. ^ ""Religious Philosophy" Mark Boyd interviewed on KVPR".
  20. ^ "College of Health and Human Services".
  21. ^ "Radio Show to Feature Mayor Candidates". Bakersfield Californian. April 22, 2008.
  22. ^ Troubling trend in public radio news, The Fresno Bee, Feb. 11, 2011
  23. ^ Money and Ethics at Valley Public Radio, The Bakersfield Californian
  24. ^ Valley Radio Host Loses Job The Fresno Bee, Feb. 18, 2011
  25. ^ Reactions were printed in the Bee fresnobeehive.com/2011/02/talking_points_23.html#storylink=misearch and the Californian www.bakersfield.com/opinion/letters/x2098053145/Terry-Phillips-firing.
  26. ^ Newsman explores challenge to McCarthy http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x1347873118/Election-Notebook-Newsman-explores-challenge-to-McCarthy
  27. ^ Election line-ups solidify after Friday deadline
  28. ^ "Challengers criticize McCarthy's district leadership - BakersfieldCalifornian.com". Archived from the original on 2012-04-28. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
  29. ^ "23rd Congressional District candidates talk health care, ... - BakersfieldCalifornian.com". Archived from the original on 2012-09-17. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
  30. ^ "Capitol Alert: Only five independents win spots in November runoff election". Archived from the original on 2012-06-10. Retrieved 2012-06-07.
  31. ^ "McCarthy, Phillips lay out views to woo newspaper endorsement - BakersfieldCalifornian.com". Archived from the original on 2012-10-30. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  32. ^ "Uphill Climb for Candidates Challenging Leaders : Roll Call News". Archived from the original on 2013-06-28. Retrieved 2012-11-14.
  33. ^ "US Congress for Kern County, CA".
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Terry Phillips.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Terry_Phillips&oldid=1238489419"