Center for the Study of Global Change

About

I joined Indiana University in 2004 and was promoted to associate professor in 2008. I am the founding director of the Center for International Media Law and Policy Studies (CIMLAPS). I earned my bachelor's degree in English and journalism at Morehead State University in Kentucky, and my master's and Ph.D. at the University of Florida, both in mass communication. Before going to graduate school I worked as a reporter at The Daily Independent in Ashland, Ky., and as a desk editor at The Messenger-Inquirer in Owensboro, Ky., The Ledger in Lakeland, Fla., and The Orlando Sentinel, where I also was a copy desk chief for the regional desk. My research interests focus on media law and policy, more specifically the law as it affects the relationships between journalists and confidential sources. More recently I have been studying legal and policy responses to anonymous communication online from a global perspective. My scholarly work has been published in Communication Law and Policy, Free Speech Yearbook, the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, Newspaper Research Journal, the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, The University of Arkansas-Little Rock Law Review, the William Mitchell Law Review, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Journalism and Communication Monographs, the Journal of Media Law (UK), the University of Florida Journal of Law and Public Policy, the North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology, and In Medias Res (Hungary). I was the head of the Law Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in 2005-06. I am on the board of the Indiana Coalition for Open Government. I was an academic visitor at Oxford University's Centre for Socio-Legal Studies in 2013, studying global law and policy pertaining to anonymity offline and online. In June 2015 I was one of 20 experts from around the world who met with David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur for freedom of expression, to offer advice on his drafting of a report for the U.N. General Assembly about the protection of confidential sources and whistleblowers.