Victor Pickard

Victor Pickard is the C. Edwin Baker Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication, where he co-directs the Media, Inequality & Change (MIC) Center. His research focuses on media policy, the political economy of media institutions, media activism, and the role of journalism in democracy. He has authored or edited six books, including Democracy Without Journalism? (Oxford, 2020), and over 150 articles. Pickard advises policymakers, activists, and community groups on media reform and serves on editorial boards of major communication journals.

Education: B.A., Allegheny College (1995); M.A., University of Washington (2003); Ph.D., University of Illinois (2008).

Research interests span media history, democratic theory, and media policy’s impact on societal equity. He has held visiting positions at Cornell, Goldsmiths, and LSE, and previously worked at Free Press and New America. Pickard advocates for public media systems as critical democratic infrastructure, emphasizing solutions like public funding and platform regulation.

Recent grants include a $1.2M Philadelphia grant for digital empowerment (2024). Awards include the Frank Luther Mott Book Award and Harry Stonecipher Research Award. He frequently publishes op-eds in outlets like Harvard Business Review and The Guardian, addressing media policy and platform monopolies.

Teaching includes courses on media activism, political economy, and media history. He co-directs the annual Consortium on Media Policy Studies (COMPASS) program in Washington, D.C.