Gail Christian, who broke barriers as a black on-air correspondent and rose to national fame on NBC News and PBS, died April 12 in Los Angeles. She was 83 years old.
The cause was complications from recent intestinal surgery, said her spouse, Lucy Deberderaben.
In the 1970s and 80s, when the industry was dominated by white men, Christian overcame troubled youth, including serving time in prison for armed robbery, and carved out a career as a prominent television journalist and news executive. I was.
She became a visible presence in America’s living room with her coverage NBC News of Patricia Hearst’s trial, was heiress to newspaper kidnapped in 1974 By a group of left-wing revolutionaries called the Symbion Liberation Army, convicted Two years later, for participating in a bank robbery with the group.
However, it wasn’t enough for Christian to be exposed as a rare black face on the evening news.
“I always wanted to be a ‘black reporter’, just like when you cover black stories.” Chicago Tribune interview I felt that was the reason I was there. I didn’t resent it in the least. I felt, then and still now, that it was very dangerous to live in a society where people were not allowed to interpret themselves. ”
She fulfilled that mission with features like “Country of Watts” In 1977, a one-hour special on NBC News brought together residents of the Los Angeles neighborhood to reassess the bloody civil unrest that occurred in response to the police brutality of 1965 and to try to rebuild a burnt-out city block. I investigated your efforts. acknowledged government indifference and continued police harassment.
“Gail continued to strive to have a black face and voice on TV news, so footage of a black man in handcuffs was the only black person white viewers could see. “And her pioneering role as a black news reporter has helped many black kids get into television,” the summer program for minority students at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism said in a phone interview. It gave them recognition and hope.”
After working for NBC News for two years, Christian became news director for KCET, a local Los Angeles public broadcaster, where he created a “60 Minutes” style investigative series called “28 Tonight” (the station was Channel 28). ). .
The show has several award-winning segments, including one about a banking scandal that hurt low-income families and another about a chemical spill in Orange County that caused disease in the area, each of which received a Peabody Award. was awarded.
In 1981 she moved to Washington and began her nearly ten-year career as a news director for the Public Broadcasting Service.
In a 1976 interview with the Los Angeles Times, he said, “Ever since I’ve been in this industry, I’ve always wanted to be one of the brasses in that little room who decides what’s covered by whom.” At NBC, I’ve never seen a woman walk into that little room, and I’m not even a minority, so I thought this was an opportunity.”
“As Bobby Seale said,” she added, referring to one of the founders of the Black Panther Party, “seize the time.”
Gail Christian was born Gail Patricia Wells on February 20, 1940 in Los Angeles. Edwin Wells worked on the assembly line for Hughes Aircraft Company, while Lucille (Scruggs) Wells owned a cosmetology college. Located in her Park district in Leimart in South Central Los Angeles. (She later adopted Christian, a name from her mother’s side of the family, as her professional surname.)
Christian grew up in Venice, California and studied world history for three years at California State University in Los Angeles before dropping out in 1962 to join the Air Force. In 1965, she was convicted of armed robbery after a robbery at a hotel.
For a robbery of less than $100, she was held for 18 months at the California Institute for Women in Chino. “I really didn’t have to. I had a loving family, unlike a lot of others in prison. I was kind of out of shape at the time.”
After she served time, a fellow parolee who worked as an exchange operator at the San Francisco Examiner gave her a tip that the newspaper was planning to hire two black reporters to diversify its staff. Due to his lack of experience, Christian thought the opportunity was remote.
“I gave them this song and dance about working on this little piece of black paper that was burned down by Krang,” she told the Tribune.
In 1970, she attended an 11-week summer program for minority students in broadcast journalism at Columbia University. (Gerardo Rivera was her classmate.) Two years later, she was hired by her local NBC affiliate, KNBC. She worked there for six years before she was hired by NBC News.
Her tenure at PBS ended in 1989. Shortly after, the network embarked on controversy for airing a pro-Palestinian documentary called “Days of Rage.” The film was reportedly partially funded by an undisclosed Arab source, which the producers denied.
of interview In an interview with The New York Times, Christian said he left PBS for other reasons. “This is a no-win situation, so you burn out,” she said. She is “silent when things are going well, and furious when there are questions.”
She eventually settled in Palm Springs, California with DeBardelaben, whom she married in 2016.
In addition to DeBardelaben, Christian has grandchildren. Her daughter, Sunday Barrett, died in 2019.
Early in her career, Christian kept quiet about her life in prison, but eventually decided to open it up to NBC’s sympathetic executives. “The man just looked at me,” she recalled. “He said, ‘I don’t have enough problems. Should I listen to you? Go away.’ I never heard another word.”
