Eric Deggans
Eric Deggans is a critic-at-large at NPR, offering reporting and analysis on TV, media, film, pop culture and social issues for the network.
He moved into this part-time role in 2025 after serving nearly 12 years as the first full-time TV critic hired by the network, contributing as a media analyst and guest host during his tenure as a full-time staffer.
Deggans stepped back from full time work at NPR to assume the Knight Chair in Journalism and Media Ethics at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, overseeing classes on media issues, ethics and journalism and organizing its twice-annual Ethics Institute conferences. As a Knight Chair, he joined a collection of 25 other professors in positions endowed at 23 different universities across the country by the Knight Foundation.
He also serves as a guest instructor and member of the National Advisory Board for the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in St. Petersburg, FL and works as guest host/interviewer the entertainment industry podcast and radio program on Los Angeles NPR member station KCRW, called The Business.
In April 2024, he was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame, joining a roster of journalists which includes 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft, CSPAN founder Brian Lamb, CBS Sunday Morning anchor Jane Pauley and NPR colleague Steve Inskeep.
Deggans came to NPR in 2013 from the Tampa Bay Times, where he served as TV/Media Critic and in other roles for nearly 20 years. A journalist for more than 30 years, he is also the author of "Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation," a look at how prejudice, racism and sexism fuels some elements of modern media, published in October 2012 by Palgrave Macmillan.
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Super Bowl spots showed advertisers wanted lots of buzz but not controversy. -
It's not quite clear what the latest Trek series wants to be: a rollicking adventure, a college coming-of-age story, or a bizarre blend of both? -
The first episodes of the show's fifth and final season are out on Wednesday night. Critic Eric Deggans says the Duffer Brothers keep the plot moving along — even though, so far, many of the storylines feel familiar. -
Here are some of the best summer TV shows — from Marvel reviving its fortunes with a new armored hero to TV's most compelling serial killer returning for a bite of the Big Apple. -
The second season of HBO's hit zombie series takes what works the first season and turns it upside down, mining new drama from the uncertainty. -
Netflix says more than 200 countries tuned into the "Beyoncé Bowl" and its two NFL games. We may just be starting to learn what that ultimately means for the future of television and sports media. -
Each year, NPR TV critic Eric Deggans throws out the Emmys rulebook and chooses his own awards for the best shows on television. Here are this year's Deggys. -
Before social media, the film Purple Rain gave audiences a peek into Prince's musical life. Band members say the true genesis of the title song was much less combative than the version presented in the film. -
In a turbulent year for Hollywood, our TV critic Eric Deggans offers his own set of awards — with fewer rules and cutoffs. Here's a breakdown of what will probably win, and what he wishes would win. -
Before his arrest, Jonathan Majors' star was on the rise. His film Magazine Dreams has been pulled from the release calendar, and Marvel has paused upcoming projects pending the outcome of this trial.
