Terry Phillips
Encyclopedia
Terry Phillips is a journalist, author and media consultant. As a foreign correspondent
, he covered events around the world for CBS News
, and reported regularly for NPR
, MonitoRadio and the NBC/Mutual Broadcasting System.
Phillips is a regular contributor to the Hellenic Journal. He also contributes analysis for such publications as the San Francisco Chronicle
and The Bakersfield Californian
. For ten years, he co-hosted the Armenia Fund global telethon.
Phillips completed his high school education in San Jose, California, and then earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Santa Clara University in 1975. He spent his junior year at l’Institut d’Etudes Françaises in Aix-en-Provence, France, and is fluent in French. He did graduate studies in journalism at California State University in San Jose and attended the Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He earned a certificate in Conflict Management and Mediation from Fresno Pacific University in 2010.
, the public television affiliate in Silicon Valley. He was in charge of the station’s video services department. He produced feature stories and presented documentary reports for such programs as “Tomorrow/Today,” an innovative science and technology magazine series on PBS.
Phillips operated the public access television station for Gill Cable TV in 1977. He took a one-year stint as press relations manager for the Pacific Telephone Company in 1979 before forming his own independent media production company.
Prompted by the devastating 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. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, he was named the network’s Eastern European correspondent, reporting dramatic changes in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania while based in Prague.
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 such hotspots as Afghanistan, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Haiti. In 1995, CBS News assigned him to report stories throughout the United States while based in the network’s Detroit bureau.
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. 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 false claims that GSM conversations were vulnerable to eavesdropping. In 1999, Omnipoint merged with VoiceStream Wireless (now part of T-Mobile).
Phillips moved back to California in 2000. There, he began a five-year investigation into the 1933 assassination of Ghevont Tourian, the Armenian Archbishop who was stabbed to death in a New York City church on Christmas Eve Sunday morning. That research led Phillips to write a historical novel, Murder at the Altar (Hye Books, 2008). This groundbreaking book is the first such work on a controversy which continues to divide Armenians worldwide.
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. He brought together representatives of diverse points of view, providing a fair and balanced opportunity to discuss issues of public importance. Guest panels regularly comprised national and international experts from a wide range of fields, from politics to business and from sciences to the arts. 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 and in The Bakersfield Californian, critical of financial influences on news content. A week later, he was fired. This prompted public reaction from listeners. Phillips is the author of Off the Air: Thoughts About Our Quality of Life (Hye Books, 2011), a compilation of his radio commentaries.
In November of 2011, Phillips announced that he had formed an exploratory committee to run for California's new 23rd congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Foreign correspondent
Foreign Correspondent may refer to:*Foreign correspondent *Foreign Correspondent , an Alfred Hitchcock film*Foreign Correspondent , an Australian current affairs programme...
, he covered events around the world for CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
, and reported regularly for NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, MonitoRadio and the NBC/Mutual Broadcasting System.
Phillips is a regular contributor to the Hellenic Journal. He also contributes analysis for such publications as the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
and The Bakersfield Californian
The Bakersfield Californian
The Bakersfield Californian is the daily newspaper serving Bakersfield, California and surrounding Kern County in the state's San Joaquin Valley.-History:...
. For ten years, he co-hosted the Armenia Fund global telethon.
Early Years and Education
Phillips was born in Fresno, California. His father was a Greek refugee whose family fled Turkey during the post-World War I chaos. His mother was born in New York City, the daughter of Armenian immigrants from Turkey.Phillips completed his high school education in San Jose, California, and then earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Santa Clara University in 1975. He spent his junior year at l’Institut d’Etudes Françaises in Aix-en-Provence, France, and is fluent in French. He did graduate studies in journalism at California State University in San Jose and attended the Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California. He earned a certificate in Conflict Management and Mediation from Fresno Pacific University in 2010.
Career
In 1976, Phillips began working at KTEHKTEH
KQEH is a public television station in San Jose, California, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as a PBS member station on channel 54. The station is owned by Northern California Public Broadcasting with sister-stations KQED in San Francisco and KQET in Watsonville, the latter mirroring KQED.Until...
, the public television affiliate in Silicon Valley. He was in charge of the station’s video services department. He produced feature stories and presented documentary reports for such programs as “Tomorrow/Today,” an innovative science and technology magazine series on PBS.
Phillips operated the public access television station for Gill Cable TV in 1977. He took a one-year stint as press relations manager for the Pacific Telephone Company in 1979 before forming his own independent media production company.
Prompted by the devastating 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. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, he was named the network’s Eastern European correspondent, reporting dramatic changes in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania while based in Prague.
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 such hotspots as Afghanistan, Somalia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Haiti. In 1995, CBS News assigned him to report stories throughout the United States while based in the network’s Detroit bureau.
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. 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
Peter Laufer
Peter Laufer is an independent journalist, broadcaster and documentary filmmaker working in traditional and new media. He is the James Wallace Chair in Journalism at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication.-Career:...
. He was a champion of wireless security, challenging false claims that GSM conversations were vulnerable to eavesdropping. In 1999, Omnipoint merged with VoiceStream Wireless (now part of T-Mobile).
Phillips moved back to California in 2000. There, he began a five-year investigation into the 1933 assassination of Ghevont Tourian, the Armenian Archbishop who was stabbed to death in a New York City church on Christmas Eve Sunday morning. That research led Phillips to write a historical novel, Murder at the Altar (Hye Books, 2008). This groundbreaking book is the first such work on a controversy which continues to divide Armenians worldwide.
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. He brought together representatives of diverse points of view, providing a fair and balanced opportunity to discuss issues of public importance. Guest panels regularly comprised national and international experts from a wide range of fields, from politics to business and from sciences to the arts. 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 and in The Bakersfield Californian, critical of financial influences on news content. A week later, he was fired. This prompted public reaction from listeners. Phillips is the author of Off the Air: Thoughts About Our Quality of Life (Hye Books, 2011), a compilation of his radio commentaries.
In November of 2011, Phillips announced that he had formed an exploratory committee to run for California's new 23rd congressional district seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.