Othello Richards earned a bachelor’s degree in communications with an emphasis in broadcast journalism at Brigham Young University. From there, Othello worked in the broadcast and digital news industry in the states of Utah and Washington for more than a decade, primarily as an on-air reporter and several years as an associate producer. During that time, he covered thousands of stories dealing with crime, criminal justice, city and county affairs, adverse weather, and politics. Most stories he filmed and edited by himself, and he also solely ran a live TV truck and portable live video streaming pack. The highlight of his career was getting selected for a media flight with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and pulling 9G’s in an F-16 fighter jet.
Othello left the news industry in 2014 to pursue a master’s degree in mass communications back at BYU. Concurrently, he worked as a full-time visiting instructor in the School of Communications, teaching news media classes. Upon graduating in 2017, he left to pursue a Ph.D. at Texas Tech University. His research interests include how individuals process TV news, new media interactivity, immersive journalism, and visual and cognitive control of attention. In addition, he has been a team member on the “Cracking the Code: Millennial Engagement with Science Media” project that is in collaboration with the San Francisco-based public broadcasting station KQED and grant funded by the National Science Foundation.
Outside of work, Othello enjoys mountain biking, road cycling, creating professional home videos of his wife and four children.