John Calhoun Merrill (9 January 1924 - 20 September 2012) was an American author and professor of journalism. He was Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, and taught at a number of other colleges and universities, and was the author of 30 books and over 100 articles in journals, and has been considered one of the leading scholars in journalism during his time. In 2007, a festschrift, Freedom Fighter, was issued in his honor.[1][2]
Merrill was born January 9, 1924, in Eden, Mississippi, and served in the US Navy from 1942 to 1946. He met his wife at Delta State University, where he graduated from in 1949.[3] He the went on to receive a Master's degree at Louisiana State University, and a Ph.D. in mass communications from the University of Iowa in 1961.[3][4] His first teaching position was at Northwestern State College from 1951 to 1962, after which he moved to Columbia in order to teach at the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri.[3]
Merrill served as Chair of Journalism at Northwestern State University. He also served as a faculty member at various universities including Texas A&M, the University of Maryland, the University of Virginia, California State-Long Beach, the University of North Carolina and University of Missouri.[1] Merrill taught and lectured in 70 countries including Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and Egypt.[1]
Merrill was awarded the Distinguished Research Master at Louisiana State University in 1991.[5] He received Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism in 1996.[1] He was also added to the School of Journalism Hall of Fame at the University of Iowa (2005) and the Ethics Hall of Fame at Texas Christian University (2006).[2] He was called "a national institution and treasure in the field of journalism in the United States."[6]
He was an active member of First Baptist Church in Columbia, and had five children with his wife Dorothy.[3]
He died on September 20, 2012, in Birmingham, Alabama, at 88.[3]