David Zurawik

David Zurawik is an American journalist and author. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Zurawik earned a masters degree in specialized reporting (pop culture) from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and received a doctorate in American studies from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2000. He now lives in Baltimore.

Career

Zurawik worked as a reporter and critic for the Dallas Times Herald (now the Dallas Morning News before becoming the television critic, in 1989, for The Baltimore Sun.^[1] In 2008, he became the lead writer for The Baltimore Sun TV blog, Z on TV.^[2]

Zurawik is a frequent guest on the CNN’s public affairs talk show “Reliable Sources",^[3]” He has also appeared on Fox News shows such as “The O’Reilly Factor” and “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”

In addition to his position with the Baltimore Sun, Zurawik is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland.

In April 2015, Zurawik speculated publicly about the events allegedly depicted in a grainy camera-phone video of what Zurawik purported to be the arrest of Freddie Gray. In the days prior to the violent riots that devastated Baltimore, Zurawik speculated that although in the grainy video "you can't really tell what's going on; you can't tell where the voices are coming from," that Mr. Gray "was crying out in pain and his legs were dragging behind him as police tried to put him in a van.^[4] Zurawik then predicted (accurately, as it turned out) that the video would have as "powerful" an effect in the "court of public opinion" as did the videos of the Walter Scott shooting in South Carolina and the Eric Garner choke-hold in New York. Though Mr. Gray apparently died while in police custody, Zurawik did not speculate as to whether Mr. Gray was under the influence of illegal drugs at the time of his arrest or whether he may have died from ingesting illegal drugs.^[5] As has been widely reported,^[6] though never in Zurawik's newspaper, Mr. Gray's arrest record includes at least 18 arrests over the past 8 years, mostly for drug offenses and assault:

• March 20, 2015: Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance
• March 13, 2015: Malicious destruction of property, second-degree assault
• January 20, 2015: Fourth-degree burglary, trespassing
• January 14, 2015: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute
• December 31, 2014: Possession of narcotics with intent to distribute
• December 14, 2014: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance
• August 31, 2014: Illegal gambling, trespassing
• January 25, 2014: Possession of marijuana
• September 28, 2013: Distribution of narcotics, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, second-degree assault, second-degree escape
• April 13, 2012: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, violation of probation
• July 16, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession with intent to distribute
• March 28, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
• March 14, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to manufacture and distribute
• February 11, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance
• August 29, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, violation of probation
• August 28, 2007: Possession of marijuana
• August 23, 2007: False statement to a peace officer, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
• July 16, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance (2 counts)

Sources: CNN^[7]; Maryland Judicial Search^[8]

Publications

He is the author of The Jews of Prime Time, which looks at Jewish identity on network TV.^[9]

References