Martin, Roland Sebastian
1968-present · Contribution: 1991-present
Built Roland Martin Unfiltered into one of the most-watched independent Black-owned news programs in the country, growing it from a 2018 web series into the flagship of the Black Star Network after a career as executive editor of the Chicago Defender and a longtime CNN political contributor
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
After serving as executive editor of the Chicago Defender and hosting a morning talk show on Chicago’s WVON, Martin joined CNN as a political contributor from 2007 to 2013, becoming part of the network’s Peabody Award-winning 2008 election coverage team and hosting a Sunday public affairs program, Washington Watch, and later the daily morning news show NewsOne Now on TV One from 2013 to 2017. Rather than treat his mainstream television appearances as a destination, Martin used them to build ownership stakes and equipment that became the foundation of an independent digital news operation; when NewsOne Now was canceled, he retained the production infrastructure and launched Roland Martin Unfiltered in 2018, a daily streaming news program explicitly centered on Black audiences that has since grown to nearly two million YouTube subscribers and become one of the platform’s top-ranked news programs, anchoring what is now the multi-show Black Star Network. Martin has interviewed four U.S. presidents, authored several books including The First: President Barack Obama’s Road to the White House and White Fear, and remains a vocal advocate for combating misinformation within Black media audiences.
Life & background
Born November 14, 1968, in Houston, Texas, Martin earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Texas A&M University and a master’s in Christian communications from Louisiana Baptist University. He worked as executive editor of the Chicago Defender and at several Black newspapers before becoming a CNN contributor from 2007 to 2013 and a TV One host from 2009 to 2017, and has hosted the independent digital program Roland Martin Unfiltered since 2018, continuing to broadcast daily from Washington, D.C.
Sources
- Forbes; Variety; WBGO
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