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Victor Pickard is an assistant professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. His research explores the intersections of U.S. and global media activism and politics, the history and political economy of media institutions, and the normative foundations of media policy. Before coming to ASC, he was an assistant professor in the media, culture, and communication department at New York University. Previously he worked on media policy in Washington, D.C. as a senior research fellow at the media reform organization Free Press and the public policy think tank the New America Foundation, where he continues to advise their Open Technology and Media Policy Initiatives. He also taught media policy at the University of Virginia and served as a media policy fellow for Congresswoman Diane Watson.

Professor Pickard’s work has been published in numerous anthologies and scholarly journals, including Critical Studies in Media Communication, Journal of Communication; Media, Culture & Society; Global Media and Communication; International Journal of Communication; Communication, Culture & Critique; New Media and Society; Journal of Communication Inquiry; Newspaper Research Journal; Journal of Internet Law; International Journal of Communication Law and Policy CommLaw Conspectus: Journal of Communications Law and Policy. He frequently speaks to the public and to the press about media-related issues and his op-eds have appeared in newspapers like The Guardian, The Seattle Times, and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

In 2009, Professor Pickard was the lead author of the first comprehensive report on the American journalism crisis, Saving the News: Toward a National Journalism Strategy (Published by Free Press). With Robert McChesney, he is the co-editor of the book Will the Last Reporter Please Turn out the Lights (The New Press). His research has received a number of grants and awards from national and international associations, including the National Communication Association, the International Communication Association, the Association of Internet Researchers, and the Yale Information Society Project's Access to Knowledge Conference. He received the NCA Gerald R. Miller Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award for Media Democracy Deferred: The Postwar Settlement for U.S. Communications, 1945-1949, which focuses on postwar media policy debates and reform efforts. Currently he is expanding on this research for a book on the history and future of news media with Cambridge University Press.