Tom Terry, Ph.D., Department Chair/Associate Professor, Journalism
Tom Terry was born and raised in Geneseo, Illinois. He has been infected with the chaotic magic and glories of the media ever since his parents took him to see his first press run at three days old. Tom is a zealous defender of the First Amendment and nurtures a deep belief in the pivotal role the media plays in the workings of the American constitutional system. He is dedicated to imparting his passion for Freedom of the Press to the next generation of journalists and equipping his students with the skills and ethical compasses required to contextualize the issues – great and small – that will confront this country and its citizens in the future. Tom earned his B.A. in Journalism from the University of Iowa at Iowa City and his M.A. and Ph.D., both in Mass Communication, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a student of Dr. Donald L. Shaw. He spent a year on a Defense Department post-doctoral fellowship exploring the dramatic changes in the media environment from a vertical to a horizontal media world and the implications of such a shift for U.S. policymakers. He joined the James E. Rogers Department of Mass Communication at Idaho State University as associate professor and chair in August 2008. Tom is the former editor, publisher, and owner of a small chain of weekly newspapers in western Illinois. He is a past president of the Illinois Press Association (I.P.A.) and has served on numerous state and national committees concerning press access issues and newsprint supplies. He started two newspapers from scratch. He has won numerous first places in I.P.A. and National Newspaper Association contests for news writing, news and feature photography, and advertising. His research interests include race and the media, the agenda setting role of the press, the origins of the First Amendment in the U.S. and Great Britain, and media history generally. Tom has published in Communication Law and Policy, Military Review, and American Journalism and his research has been presented and won awards at academic conferences in the U.S. and overseas. Tom’s teaching areas include mass communication law, news writing and reporting, editorial writing, and media history. He is developing courses on the History of the New York Times, a media history survey, a History of Scotland, Strategic Communication in a Post-September 11 World, and Media, Culture, and Global Reach. His wife Cathy and he have three children: Elizabeth (middle school), William (college undergraduate), and James (doctoral student in history). Tom is a private pilot, plays the Scottish smallpipes with more enthusiasm than talent (something that applies equally to his golf game), and collects presidential campaign buttons (a Ulysses Grant is his oldest). Two signs hang outside Tom’s office door. One is an exhortation, “Carpe Agendum – Seize the Agenda” and the other an invitation, “You’re not bothering me – you’re the reason I’m here.” Office hours are whenever that door is open and often when it’s not.
“To the press alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression.” – James Madison Report on the Resolutions of 1798 – January 1800