Allen, Craig 1954–

(Craig M. Allen, Craig Mitchell Allen)

PERSONAL:

Born February 6, 1954, in Portland, OR; son of Raymond and Dorothy Allen; children: Austin. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Linfield College, B.A., 1976; University of Oregon, M.S., 1978; Ohio University, Ph.D., 1989. Politics: Independent. Religion: Episcopalian.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Gilbert, AZ. Office—Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Telecommunication, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287; fax: 480-965-7041.

CAREER:

Station KPTV, Portland, OR, reporter and anchor, 1976-78; KRDO-TV, Colorado Springs, CO, news director, 1981-82; KMGH-TV, Denver, CO, news manager, 1982-84; University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, assistant professor of communications, 1989-91; Arizona State University, Tempe, began as assistant professor, became associate professor of communications, 1991—. U.S. Department of the Interior, media relations consultant.

MEMBER:

International Communication Association, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Radio-Television News Directors Association, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications, Broadcast Education Association (chair of history division, 1995-97), Sister Cities International.

WRITINGS:

Eisenhower and the Mass Media, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, NC), 1993.

News Is People: The Rise of Local TV News and the Fall of News from New York, Iowa State University Press (Ames, NY), 2001.

Contributor to mass communications journals. Editor of television and video review section, Journalism History.

SIDELIGHTS:

Craig Allen once told CA: "My inspiration for the Eisenhower book was not really Eisenhower, but my own career as a local television news anchor, in which I was coached by consultants on my delivery and on-air performance. Because I was a journalist, I got to know many politicians and discovered that many were learning, from consultants, the same studio techniques that I was being taught. I was curious about how this started and naturally began with Eisenhower, whose presidency coincided with the period when television began to expand rapidly. I was surprised to find out that Eisenhower had been through the same process I had endured, of being handled and remade for the cameras.

"My project on local television news (a history) concentrates on the consultants who taught me studio techniques. It begins where the Eisenhower book ends. I am fascinated by the knowledge that, in both politics and journalism, what is seen in the media doesn't ‘just happen,’ but is meticulously tailored behind the scenes to meet the public's expectations."

Allen later added: "My writing largely extends from my job as a mass communications teacher. Because I teach the communications process, one of my interests has been in tracing the unseen role of media advisers and consultants. Today, using focus groups, surveys, and market research techniques, consultants determine much of what is seen and heard in radio, television, newspapers, the Internet, and other sources. My first book Eisenhower and the Mass Media examines the first White House television consultants. My newer work News Is People traces the role of consultants in formulating television news. In my next work called The Global Media Revolution, I hope to show how the consulting process, which first began in the United States, has recently spread worldwide."