Photo Courtesy of Jerry McCormick
By Julio Rodriguez
When Jerry McCormick was 10 and growing up in South Carolina, he and a friend watched the film “Superman.” It wasn’t the superhero that caught his attention, but the fearless reporter who pursued the truth no matter the cost.
“Boys my age wanted to be Superman. I wanted to be Lois Lane,” he said. “She got to go on all these adventures and write stories. That was when I knew what I wanted to do.”
Super journalist McCormick will become Southwestern College’s 46th Honorary Degree recipient at this year’s commencement for his many contributions to journalism and education, including co-founding the San Diego Association of Black Journalists. During his 30-plus years as a professional he has gone on countless adventures and some misadventures. He has faced discrimination, toxic work environments and a layoff, yet he has thrived. So have thousands of journalism students he has influenced.
Writing always seemed to come easy. A10th grade English composition teacher spotted McCormick’s talent during a class writing assignment. McCormick finished his briskly in 10 minutes and the teacher was impressed. He gave young Jerry another prompt.
McCormick wrote it quickly and handed it in. His teacher got up and left the room. When he returned he took Jerry to the principal’s office. Several teachers joined in. McCormick said he did not understand what was going on.
“By this point the bell had rung and I needed to get to biology,” he said.
The gathered told McCormick he had writing talent and encouraged him to turn those essays into speeches for scholarship opportunities. His composition teacher suggested he try journalism. The idea stuck. McCormick attended Benedict College in Columbia, SC, one of the top Historically Black Colleges in America. He graduated with a BA in journalism in 1990.
His first real job in journalism as a copy editor in 1992 at the Gazette-Telegraph in Colorado Springs was also his first taste of workplace discrimination. One day representatives from the Colorado Springs branch of the NAACP toured the newsroom. McCormick, a Black woman and an Asian man were the only people of color in the newsroom. During the tour led by his editor, the NAACP team was guided toward them.
“This is our Black man. This is our Black woman. Here, we even have an Asian.” McCormick recalled his editor saying.
While McCormick said he enjoyed working at the paper, he noticed he was assigned only the “Black stories.” He left in 1995 and returned to South Carolina, where he spent four years as a copy editor at The State Newspaper.
McCormick said he found his way to San Diego by chance. In 1999, he was invited to speak at the UNITY Job Fair, a convention in Seattle for journalists of color. A panel, titled “The One and Only” featured McCormick and a Native American woman. McCormick caught the attention of an editor from the San Diego Union-Tribune.
After the panel, McCormick ran into a former colleague.
“(I asked her) if she could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?” he recalled. “Her answer was San Diego.”
McCormick asked if there were any Black people in the city. She laughed and said, “Of course.”
A colleague from The State Newspaper invited him to a reception hosted by the Union-Tribune. Soon he was on a plane to San Diego for an interview.
“When they told me ComicCon was out here, I (wanted) the job, because I’m a big nerd!” he said. “I got the job and started working as a copy editor.”
In 2000 McCormick became the founding president of the San Diego Association of Black Journalists (SDABJ), the local chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).
McCormick was introduced to NABJ in 1988 at Benedict College after he saw Spike Lee’s film “School Daze.” A reporter came to campus seeking students’ reactions to the film. It was the first time McCormick had seen a Black journalist in person.
“I was enamored with the way he asked questions and the way he sat down and talked to us,” McCormick said. “I was one of the people he chose because I was a journalism student. He told me about NABJ.”
Four years later McCormick was in Cleveland for an internship at the Tribune-Chronicle. He was provided housing and stayed with a white couple. The woman was a reporter for the paper. She and her husband asked McCormick if he planned to attend that year’s NABJ convention in Detroit.
When McCormick said he wanted to but could not afford to attend, the couple paid for him to go. Soon he was on a bus to Detroit.
“It was magical,” he said. “Seeing people who looked like me, doing what I wanted to do and soaking up all the knowledge. To this day it still gives me goosebumps.”
Since then, McCormick said he tries to attend as many conventions as possible. He said they are learning opportunities and space to step away from the daily grind of newsroom life.
“It can be hard in a newsroom,” he said. “They can strip away your dignity and make you feel your voice doesn’t matter. (During conventions) we’re heard and we matter.”
McCormick said he wanted to create a similar space for students. Under his leadership, the SDABJ created “Pro for a Day” an all-day journalism boot camp that brings 20-25 professionals from print, broadcast and public relations together to mentor students. For 21 years it has been hosted at Southwestern College.
“We wanted to create a safe space for students to learn the basics of journalism in a controlled environment,” he said. “We want to give students a real-world experience and show them this is how it is. Either you can handle it or you can’t.”
Southwestern College Professor of Journalism Dr. Max Branscomb said he met McCormick about 25 years ago when McCormick was working at the Union-Tribune alongside his wife. Branscomb helped to host the first “Pro for a Day” and became an instant fan. He said he was determined to keep it at the Southwestern campus.
“There was a year (SDABJ) took it somewhere else and I was sad,” Branscomb said. “I went to Jerry and said let’s do it at Southwestern, like…always. We made it work so well here that (Southwestern College) became the permanent host.”
Alexa Lima, the Editor-in-Chief of The Sun, said she met McCormick when she attended Pro for a Day in 2023. Her first impressions of McCormick were the kindness and openness he showed students, and how straight forward he is with critique.
“(He read my) writing and he told me ‘this is good but this needs work,’” she said. “He and the journalism professionals took time on a Saturday to be with college students for about eight to 10 hours.”
In 2006 McCormick decided to pursue another of his passions and approached Branscomb about teaching the Journalism 151 class.
“It was my first teaching job and I owe everything to Max,” McCormick said. “He’s a great mentor. When there was something I did not know I asked Max and he always guided me in the right direction.”
McCormick said he fell in love with Southwestern College and always felt welcomed on campus.
“I owe a lot of where I am today to Southwestern College,” he said. “It was where I learned to be a better teacher and to communicate better with students. I think students learned a lot from me. I just poured myself into them so that they would learn.”
While he taught at SWC as an adjunct McCormick continued to work at the Union-Tribune. In 2009 as he was preparing to teach his class he got a call from a colleague at the newspaper. He was told new ownership was laying off staff.
A week earlier McCormick had taken his Southwestern class to the NBC 7 studios to show them a broadcast newsroom, he said. He joked with news director Greg Dawson about possible layoffs at the U-T and applying for a job at the station.
Upon his arrival at the former Mission Valley office of the U-T he saw dazed co-workers in the parking lot loading their possessions into their cars. He recalled walking toward his desk consumed by anxiety. His boss pulled him into HR and he was told they were letting him go.
“It wasn’t devastating losing the job,” he said. “It was devastating that I couldn’t practice journalism anymore, or so I thought.”
McCormick shared on his Facebook page that he had been laid off by the U-T. Two hours later Dawson called and offered him a job at NBC. He started in July 2009.
In five years at NBC McCormick rose from writer to producer, winning an Emmy Award for a package about the Boston Marathon Bombing. He accepted a promotion at a station in Portland and prepared to move to Oregon with his husband, Richard.
McCormick suggested that before they move, he and Richard should marry in California. When they arrived at the courthouse, McCormick said he was startled by the large crowd. His husband laughed and reminded him that it was Valentines Day.
“I left NBC in the morning, went home, took a quick nap, got dressed, met my husband down there and we said our vows,” McCormick said. “Then we went to the Cheesecake Factory.”
Oregon seemed to beckon as a grand adventure, McCormick said, but Portland did not turn out as expected. It had some of the zeitgeist of Colorado Springs. “Bad energy” permeated the studio, he said. He was the first Black manager in the station’s history but quickly learned that some staff resented taking direction from a Black man.
McCormick boosted the program’s ratings from fourth to second in the market, but that did not change the toxic culture of the newsroom. One day just after McCormick wrapped his program, the assistant news director called him into his office.
The assistant was ready to fire him, but McCormick resigned first.
McCormick quickly landed on his feet. He reached out to Rich Goldner, the news director at Fox 5. Years earlier, when McCormick had started at NBC, Goldner told him, “One day, you’ll work for me.” He was right.
Returning to San Diego also meant a return to Southwestern College teaching Journalism 151. He threw himself once again into mentoring the next generation of journalists.
McCormick held positions as a program advisor at San Diego City College, and adjunct teaching positions at SDSU and Palomar College. Today he is Director of Strategic Communication at CSU State San Marcos. Over the years McCormick has mentored countless students. He calls them “Jerry’s Kids.”
In September McCormick was honored by the Bonitafest with its Pioneer Award for his groundbreaking work as minority journalist and his lasting contributions to Southwestern College. In October, the San Diego Press Club presented McCormick with the Terry Williams Directors Award, the club’s highest distinction.
Branscomb nominated McCormick for the Southwestern College Honorary Degree in December. In a letter addressed to Academic Senate President Caree Lesh, Branscomb described McCormick as an “unsung hero” beloved by legions of people.
McCormick said he was surprised to be the Honorary Degree recipient and felt deeply honored.
“I do what I do because it’s needed,” he said. “I’m so blessed Southwestern came into my life and also blessed they considered me for this really heartwarming, heart touching, prestigious honor. When I step on that stage May 30th, I am going to wear this with pride.”
McCormick said he faced many struggles in journalism and admitted there were times he wanted to walk away. He hung in, though, out of love for the profession and the power journalists have to elevate others by giving people voice.
“It took this journey to get me where I am now,” McCormick said. “As you’re going through something you (may ask yourself) ‘Why am I going through this? What’s going on?’ But when you get to the other side of the hurricane and you see the rainbow through the storms you understand.”
