By Khaya Thonjeni
JMS4 TV is set to get a double-dose of international experience. While lecturer Paul Hills is in the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship gaining international experiences, his leave replacement for this semester is Martin Phillips, a highly-regarded US television producer with a passion for teaching.
Phillips, who was born in Cape Town but has lived in the US since 1964, has a Masters of Science in Journalism and a Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University in New York.
After graduating from Columbia in 1973 he was employed by CBS News, where he was quickly promoted to producer of the news magazine programme, 60 Minutes. Following this he moved to NBC News where he worked on documentaries, and then onto ABC News in 1990. He was a producer for ABC’s 20/20 programme for three years, before moving on to become a senior producer for long-form documentaries with ABC correspondent Peter Jennings.
Although he has been in Grahamstown only a short while, Phillips is quite taken with the place: “It’s a great town and the department is fabulous, I don’t know whether it’s a microcosm of SA or what. Everyone seems to be getting along.”
His wife and kids are still in the US but Phillips says they will maintain their bonds by communicating on Skype and his blog. He’s looking forward to teaching television and “inspiring students to be great thinkers by teaching them the amazing craft of journalism”.