Doug Ramsey is a veteran newspaper, radio and television newsman and novelist who also has a distinguished history as an educator of journalists, jazz critic and music broadcaster. He began his journalism career as a reporter and copy editor at The Seattle Times. After stints in infantry and helicopters, he became the first United States Marine Corps officer assigned to Armed Forces Radio, managing a station of the Far East Network in Japan. Following active duty, his television news career began in Yakima, Washington. As an anchor, reporter and news director, he worked for 24 years in television news in Cleveland, Portland, New Orleans, New York City, Washington, D.C., San Antonio and San Francisco. He was chief correspondent for UPI Television News, traveling with President Richard Nixon and covering the White House, Watergate and the United Nations. As senior vice president of FACS (Foundation
for American Communications), Ramsey was responsible for programs and publications to improve professional journalists’ understanding of the economy, foreign affairs, journalism ethics, law, science and the environment. He also oversaw programs to educate sources of news about the journalism process. As a guest speaker for the United States Information Agency, he lectured widely in Europe about the role of the free press in a democratic society, and about jazz. His novel Poodie James appeared in 2007. Ramseyʼs parallel career writing about music began on the Daily at the University of Washington, where he was also senior class president. Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond won his second ASCAP Deems Taylor Award in 2006 and was named best book of the year by the Jazz Journalists Association. He is also the author of Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of Its Makers. In 2008, he won the Jazz Journalists Association Lifetime Achievement Award. He contributed to The Oxford Companion to Jazz. He edited Journalism Ethics: Why Change? His articles, reviews and op-ed pieces on music and on free press and First Amendment issues have appeared in the Washington Post, The Seattle Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Oregonian and Congressional Quarterly, among other publications. For 25 years a contributing editor of Texas Monthly, he was also a columnist for The Dallas Morning News. His notes and essays have accompanied hundreds of recordings. He blogs about jazz and other matters on Rifftides, www.dougramsey.com.