In 1972 she became the first African-American woman radio and television commentator on a national network, working on CBS's program "Spectrum" from 1972 to 1978, and after that with "Matters of Opinion" until 1982. In 1978, Payne became an associate of the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP). WIFP is an American nonprofit publishing organization. The organization works to increase communication between women and connect the public with forms of women-based media. Payne served as a professor for the School of Journalism at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee for one year. Payne continued writing and advocated for the release of Nelson Mandela. In an interview a few years prior to her death, Payne said, “I stick to my firm, unshakeable belief that the black press is an advocacy press, and that I, as a part of that press, can’t afford the luxury of being unbiased . . . when it come to issues that really affect my people, and I plead guilty, because I think that I am an instrument of change.” On May 28, 1991, aged 79, Payne died of a heart attack at her home in Washington, D.C.  Ethel Payne was one of four journalists honored with a U.S postage stamp in a "Women in Journalism" set in 2002. Prompted by her work in Africa as a foreign correspondent and to honour the name of a journalist who covered seven U.S. presidents and was a war correspondent, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) award "Ethel Payne Fellowships" to journalists interested in obtaining international reporting experience through assignments in Africa. Several of Ethel Payne's belongings and awards are on view at the Anacostia Community Museum in Washington, D.C.