Tony Brown, trailblazing journalist, TV talk show host, dies at 93

• Iconic journalist Tony Brown, host of the long-running PBS show "Tony Brown's Journal," has died at age 93.
• His show, which ran for nearly four decades, provided a national platform for frank discussions on race, politics, and culture.
• Brown interviewed over 1,000 guests, including civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson, politicians including President Ronald Reagan, and celebs the likes of Denzel Washington.
• In addition to his TV career, Brown was an academic who founded the School of Communications at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Iconic journalist Tony Brown, the trailblazing host and producer of "Tony Brown’s Journal," a long-running PBS show known for its frank discussions on topics ranging from politics, race, and culture for nearly four decades, has died. He was 93.

Brown passed away from coronary heart disease at his Newport News, Virginia, home on June 17, his family announced on June 26 via his Facebook page.

Brown's presence on television, beginning in the late 1960s, came at a time when there was little news-related programming for predominantly Black audiences nationwide during the post-Civil Rights era.

By the time his show officially ended in 2008 with runs on both public and syndicated television, Brown's family estimated he had interviewed more than 1,000 guests, ranging from civil rights activists, including Angela Davis and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, numerous politicians such as President Ronald Reagan, to sit-downs with popular stars Stevie Wonder and Denzel Washington.

Few questions were deemed off-limits as guests knew they were in store for Brown's revered blunt delivery, Emmy-winning TV producer and director Jesse Vaughan told USA TODAY about Brown on June 27.

"Long before diversity became a corporate buzzword, Tony Brown was documenting Black America with intelligence, honesty, and depth," Vaughan said. "Through 'Tony Brown's Journal,' he created one of the few national platforms where the stories, struggles, achievements, and ideas of people of color were examined with the seriousness they deserved.

"He was never fully appreciated during his lifetime," Vaughan continued about Brown. "But history has a way of correcting what the present often overlooks."

Brown's early career began in Detroit, New York

After working for a newspaper in Detroit, Brown joined the city's public television station in 1968, where he was a producer for its Black-related news program. In 1970, Brown had moved to New York City to become the executive producer and host of an award-winning monthly public TV show called "Black Journal," which debuted two years earlier and aired nationally.

The Emmy-winning program featured commentary, documentaries, and public-opinion segments that drew both praise and criticism. In 1973, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced it would withdraw public funding for the program, Brown's family said.

The decision prompted nationwide protests as "Black Journal" continued airing, but on a limited basis. By 1977, the show went from airing monthly to weekly. It would eventually bear Brown's name as it secured a sponsorship deal with the Pepsi-Cola Company and briefly entered national syndication before returning to public television. By September 1995, PBS said the show was averaging five million viewers, the New York Times reported.

"It was must-see TV," Vaughan said, adding that Brown's goal was to promote positive images of Black people rather than to feed into perceived stereotypes.

"People trusted Tony. When we called to say 'Tony would like to do an interview with you,' we usually got 'When?' as a response," Aisha Karimah, a veteran TV executive who served as a longtime producer on a show Brown also hosted on WRC-TV in Washington, DC, told USA TODAY on June 27.

"Tony got right to the heart of the matter in search of an informed response," Karimah said. "He knew how to ask a question so everybody learned something in the end." 

Brown also hosted a syndicated national radio show and wrote a syndicated newspaper column, as well as several books, further expanding his reach during that period.

Brown served as a historian of the Black experience and simultaneously challenged a nation to expand their minds, added Vaughan, a cultural critic who directed a similar interview show for Jesse Jackson, produced by music-entertainment mogul Quincy Jones in the 1990s.

"(Brown) was unique in that sense because he made a conscious effort. He documented the most significant issues facing us," Vaughan said. "It couldn't have always been about ratings. He wanted to make sure proper knowledge was made available and that his message came across. He never insulted his audience."

Brown was an academic as well

Brown also helped shape future journalists. In 1971, he founded the School of Communications at Howard University in Washington, DC, and served as its dean until 1974. In 1980, Brown founded Black College Day, attracting 18,000 students to help bring attention to historically Black colleges and universities and encourage students to consider those institutions. Congress officially designated the last Monday in September to honor that observance.

That same year, President Jimmy Carter signed an executive order to strengthen HBCUs and increase funding. In 1981, President Reagan signed an executive order creating the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and encouraged more federal funding for HBCUs.

In 2004, Brown became the first dean of the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications at Hampton University in Virginia, which he held until 2009. Brown was inducted into the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications Hall of Fame three years later. He ended up teaching at four colleges in his time.

Brown was inducted into the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Silver Circle in 2002 and into the National Association of Black Journalists’ Hall of Fame in 2015.

A list of Brown’s survivors was not immediately available. No memorial or public service has been planned at this time, Brown's family said.