Jessica Clark

Jessica Clark is a writer, editor and researcher, with more than 15 years of experience spanning commercial, educational, independent and public media production. Currently she is the Research Director for American University’s Center for Social Media. She also writes a monthly column for PBS’ MediaShift on new directions in public media. She is the author, with Tracy Van Slyke, of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (2010, New Press).

A journalist and frequent media commentator, Clark is the former executive editor of In These Times, where she also served as the managing editor, associate publisher and assistant publisher. Her freelance articles have appeared in in such outlets as the San Francisco Chronicle, the American Prospect online, The Ottawa Citizen and South Africa’s Wireless. As Research Director for American University’s Center for Social Media, she directs the Future of Public Media project, conducts and commisions research,such as the influential 2009 report Public Media 2.0: Dynamic, Engaged Publics, and organizes events such as the Beyond Broadcast conference. She holds an MA in Social Sciences and a BA in English from the University of Chicago.