About Roland Martin

A nationally award-winning and multifaceted journalist, Mr. Martin is the author of Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith, and Speak, Brother! A Black Man\'s View of America, and his newest book, The First: President Barack Obama\'s Road to the White House as originally reported by Roland S. Martin.\" Mr. Martin is a commentator for TV One Cable Network and host of \"Washington Watch with Roland Martin,\" a one-hour Sunday morning news show. He is also a CNN Analyst, appearing on a variety of the network\'s shows. In October 2008, he joined the Tom Joyner Morning Show as senior analyst.

Named by Ebony Magazine in 2008, 2009 and 2010 as one of the 150 Most Influential African Americans in the United States, he is the 2009 winner of the NAACP Image Award for Best Interview for \"In Conversation: The Michelle Obama Interview.\" He is the 2008 winner of the NAACP Image Award for Best Interview for \"In Conversation: The Sen. Barack Obama Interview.\" In 2009, CNN was awarded the Peabody Award for its outstanding 2008 election coverage, of which Martin was a member of the Best Political Team on Television.

Martin, named one of the top 50 political pundits by the Daily Telegraph in the United Kingdom, was also awarded the 2008 President\'s Award by the National Association of Black Journalists for his work in multiple media platforms. In 2008, he was also inducted into the Texas A&M University Journalism Hall of Honor.

An insightful and provocative analyst, Mr. Martin has appeared numerous times on a variety of American networks, as well as media outlets in Canada, Columbia, Italy, Australia and South Africa.

From October 2005 to October 2008, he served as a radio talk show for WVON-AM in Chicago, first as mid-day host and later as morning drive host.

He is the former executive editor/general manager of the Chicago Defender, the nation\'s most historic Black newspaper. He is the former founding news editor for Savoy Magazine under the team of New York-based Vanguarde Media, and the former founding editor of BlackAmericaWeb.com.

He previously served as owner/publisher of Dallas-Fort Worth Heritage, a Christian monthly newspaper. He also has worked as managing editor of the Houston Defender and the Dallas Weekly, which he led to a number of local, state and national journalism awards. Mr. Martin has worked as morning drive reporter for KRLD/1080 AM; news director and morning anchor at KKDA-AM in Dallas; city hall reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram; and county government and neighbors reporter for the Austin American-Statesman. He has also written pieces for Ebony and Essence magazines.

He has won more than 30 professional awards for journalistic excellence, including a regional Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio Television News Directors; top reporting honors from the National Association of Black Journalists; the National Association of Minorities in Cable. and the National Associated Press-Managing Editors Conference.

Mr. Martin is a life member of the National Association of Black Journalists, and a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc..

He is a 1987 graduate of Jack Yates High School-Magnet School of Communications, and a 1991 graduate of Texas A&M University, where he earned a bachelor\'s of science degree in journalism. In May 2008, Martin received a master\'s degree in Christian Communications from Louisiana Baptist University.

He has been awarded honorary degrees from Florida Memorial University and the University of Maryland-University College.

He is married to the Rev. Jacquie Hood Martin, author of Fulfilled! The Art and Joy of Balanced Living, and vice president of Kennedy-King College in Chicago. They reside in Chicago.

Roland Martin talks to sports analyst Newy Scruggs about the unbelievable story around the home invasion of Ray Allen. The Miami Heat player wife, Shannon, awoke last week in the middle of the night to find seven teenagers between 18 and 19 years old wandering around her Coral Gables, Florida home. Initially, Coral Gables police, citing Florida law, dismissed it […]

Roland Martin talks to Michael Wright of the Cochran Firm about John Crawford, an Ohio man who was shopping in Walmart for a gun and was later shot and killed by police officers, after a patron called the cops out of fear. “This was an unjustified killing of John. He was doing nothing work and was […]

Roland Martin talks to Attorney Ben Crump, Glen Ivey (former Federal Maryland Prosecutor) and retired General Honere about the shooting of Michael Brown, the Ferguson teen who was unarmed and shot by police. Attorney Crump is representing Brown’s family and has famously represented Trayvon Martin and many other deaths on social injustice. “The autopsy concludes our […]

Roland Martin talks to Attorney Ben Crump about the shooting of Michael Brown, the Ferguson teen who was unarmed and shot by police. Attorney Crump is representing Brown’s family and has famously represented Trayvon Martin and many other deaths on social injustice. “I was so proud of President Obama…that did not look like America the […]

Roland Martin talks to Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post about the new findings in the shooting of Michael Brown case in Ferguson, Missouri. “On the scale of the scale of what we’ve seen has been a little bit of unrest,” Lowery says. “The gospel praise rally kept most of the people off the street last […]

Roland Martin talks to Brittany Novell of KMO-TV about the killing of Mike Brown, the unarmed Missouri teen who was shot down by the police over the weekend. Brown was supposed to start college on Monday won’t make it there. Instead, his family is planning his funeral after he was shot by police in Ferguson, MO, a […]

Roland Martin talks to activist and writer, Dream Hampton about the conviction of Theodore Wafer, the man who killed 19-year-old Renisha McBride in Detroit after she ended up on the porch of  Theodore Wafer after being injured from a car crash. McBride went door to door looking for help and ended on the porch of Wafer, who […]

Roland Martin talks to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake about the city of Baltimore’s curfew to keep their kids safe. Her decisison however, has been met with much criticism from various groups around the city. “The curfew has been in place fore more than 20 years. What we did was updated the curfew law, took away the penalty […]

Roland Martin talks to senior White House Advisor to President Obama, Valerie Jarrett about the gathering of the Africa Summit in D.C. “It’s a game-changer. This is the first time we’ve had nearly 50 leaders and their delegates here. It’s an opportunity for an investment. Six of the largest companies in the world are in Africa,” […]

09/01/14- Roland Martin talks with Lauren Victoria Burke of Politic365.com about the current border crisis and the Republicans failure to pass the border crisis bill.

Roland Martin talks to Sil Lai Abrams about ESPN host Stephen A. Smith‘s controversial comments about domestic violence. Smith suggested that women shouldn’t provoke men and as a result, ESPN has suspended the sports analyst for a week. “I agree with the suspension…I think Whoopi should be suspended too. The issue is it puts responsibility […]

Roland Martin talks to Ulester Douglas, Interim Director of Men Stopping Violence about the light suspension of Baltimore Ravens player, Ray Rice. The NFL caught heat after they gave Rice a two day game suspension as a result of the domestic violence charge against his then finance-now wife. “This sends an awful message. It’s quite […]