Early career in Detroit (1983–1988) Although Gordon considered law school, Gordon aspired to be a television journalist and took an unpaid internship at
WTVS, the
PBS affiliate in Detroit. At WTVS, he worked as a production assistant from 1983 to 1985. In 1986, Gordon became host of a local weekly talk show,
Detroit Black Journal, which had a yearly salary of $11,000. On the side, Gordon worked as a freelance journalist at the then-fledgling cable network
Black Entertainment Television (BET).
Career with NBC (1996–2000) In July 1996, Gordon left BET to join
NBC News, where he began as a daytime anchor and host of weekly talk and interview program
Internight on NBC's cable network
MSNBC as well as a contributor to NBC's morning show
Today. At MSNBC, Gordon covered major news events of the late 1990s such as the
Republican and
Democratic National Conventions of
1996, the
impeachment of Bill Clinton, the crash of
Swissair Flight 111, and
Pope John Paul II's
1998 visit to Cuba.
Second stint with BET (2000–2004) Gordon returned to BET in 2000 to host
BET News, this time on a nightly basis. In 2001, Gordon replaced
Tavis Smiley as host of interview program
BET Tonight. Two interviews Gordon conducted for
BET Tonight in 2002 attracted outside attention. The May 8 edition broadcast an interview by Gordon with popular R&B singer
R. Kelly, who was facing charges for child pornography. In the interview, Kelly denied the accusations of child abuse. Kelly told Gordon: "I've done a lot of wrong things in my life, but I'm not a criminal." Then on December 16, the program showed his interview with outgoing
Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (
Republican of
Mississippi) following Lott's controversial remarks at the 100th birthday party for fellow Senator
Strom Thurmond that the nation would have been better off had Thurmond, a
segregationist, been elected for president in
1948. Howard Rosenberg of the
Los Angeles Times described Gordon as "polite but firm" in the interview: "Without being a bully, he held Lott's tongue to the fire...not allowing the senator to dodge, finesse or answer questions that weren't asked." Gordon continued to be a contributor to BET through 2004, when he interviewed Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. senator
John Kerry for a
Speak Now special broadcast October 8.
CBS and NPR (2004–2006) Gordon became a correspondent for the
CBS News program
60 Minutes II in November 2004; the show ran until 2005. After Tavis Smiley left
National Public Radio (NPR), Gordon began hosting a show on NPR titled
News & Notes, a show with a similar focus on African-American issues that he hosted from 2005 to 2006.
Recent work (Since 2006) From 2006 to 2010, Gordon hosted the syndicated talk show
Our World with Black Enterprise. BET announced in March 2010 that Gordon would return to the network to host "a variety of news programs and specials." Gordon's latest series
Weekly with Ed Gordon premiered on October 3, 2010, with a one-on-one interview with Representative
Charles B. Rangel, who was undergoing an
ethics issues at the time. In the program, Gordon also discusses news and culture with a four-member panel. The show ran until March 2011. In the fall of 2016, Gordon hosted a weekly primetime newsmagazine on
Bounce TV,
Ed Gordon. In 2020, Gordon released a book,
Conversations in Black: On Power, Politics, and Leadership. He also appeared several times on the second season, released in 2024. He interviewed
President Joe Biden in July 2024. == Awards ==