William J. Carter joined The New York Times as a national media reporter in 1989.  In addition to his work for the newspaper, Mr. Carter has written numerous articles for The New York Times Magazine, including four cover stories.

Mr. Carter has covered the television industry for over 25 years.  From 1975 until 1989, he was a television critic for The Baltimore Sun, writing four to six columns, reports and features per week, as well as a weekly television sports column.  From 1973 to 1975, Mr. Carter was assistant foreign editor at The Sun, substituting at times as foreign editor, national editor and news editor.

Mr. Carter’s articles have also appeared in TV Guide, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Newsday, Advertising Age, The Washington Journalism Review and Electronic Media.

He has been a guest on many television and radio programs including, “Nightline,” “Today,” “Good Morning America,” “The Larry King Show,” ESPN Sports Century, and The MSNBC News with Brian Williams.

Mr. Carter is the author of the 1994 best-selling book, “The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno and the Network Battle for the Night.”  He is also the co-author of the 1987 book “Monday Night Mayhem: The Inside Story of ABC’s Monday Night Football.”  In 2006, Mr. Carter published the book “Desperate Networks” a behind-the-scenes story of some of the biggest shows on television.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. on August 31, 1949, Mr. Carter received a B.A. degree in English from The University of Notre Dame in 1971 (Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude) and an M.A. degree in journalism from The Pennsylvania State University in 1972.  He is married and has two children.

(2006)