Dr. Patricia Aufderheide is a well-known cultural journalist, policy analyst, and editor on topics related to media and society, and has received numerous journalism and scholarly awards. Her relationship as a senior editor and columnist dates back to her tenure as culture editor for In These Times from 1978 to 1982.

Dr. Aufderheide is a professor in the School of Communication at American University in Washington, DC and the director of the university’s Center for Social Media, which “showcases and analyzes strategies to use media as creative tools for public knowledge and action.” Aufderheide is also director of the Independent Television Service, which produces innovative television programming for underserved audiences under the umbrella of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. She serves on the film advisory board of the National Gallery of Art, and on the editorial boards of a variety of publications, including Communication Law and Policy.

Aufderheide is the author of The Daily Planet: A Critic on the Capitalist Culture Beat (University of Minnesota Press, 2000), and Communications Policy in the Public Interest: The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Guilford Press, 1999) and the editor of Beyond PC: Toward a Politics of Understanding (Graywolf Press). She has been a Fulbright and John Simon Guggenheim fellow and has served as a juror at the Sundance Film Festival.