Josh Shepperd researches the role of media in civil society, with a focus on the history of experiments in media and democracy in the US. Josh additionally designs and directs national research projects for the Library of Congress as the Sound Fellow of the National Recording Preservation Board and Senior Research Advisor of the National Recording Preservation Foundation, a charter of US Congress. His recent book 'Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting' (University of Illinois Press) was recognized by five book awards in 2024. He's currently co-authoring the official history of US public media for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Current. His connected research has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, Rockefeller Archive, LBJ Presidential Library, Ford Foundation, and NEH, and featured by over 75 media outlets, including Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Associated Press, Washington Post, NPR, PBS, C-Span, The Atlantic, Vox, Time, The Hill, Chicago Tribune, Columbia Journalism Review, and CBS.
keywords
Media History, Media Theory, Media Policy, Media Industries, Public Media, AI and Automation, Media Archives
MDST 2002 - Media and Communication History
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Summer 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024 / Summer 2024 / Fall 2024 / Summer 2025
Examines the historical development of communication forms, tools, technologies and institutions (orality, writing, printing, photography, film, radio, television, computers, internet); their influence on culture (forms of expression and social relationships); and their impact on social and individual experience. Applies knowledge of communication history to contemporary social issues and problems in media and society, domestically and internationally.
MDST 3001 - Media Research
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2024 / Fall 2024 / Spring 2025
Introduces theoretical approaches and practices used to analyze the content, structure, influence and contexts of media. Explores factors shaping media, including: politics, economics, technology, cultural traditions. Studies concepts, theoretical approaches and research methods of media criticism, and adopts and adapts these frameworks in analyses of mediated communication.
MDST 3791 - Media and the Public
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2023
Provides an overview of how publishing in print and electronic forms has been tied closely to democratic ideals for centuries. Explores how the idea of the public is central to the theory and practice of media politics, and how the contested concepts of "the public sphere" and "public opinion" have long been linked to debates about the proper relationship between media and democratic citizenship.
MDST 4931 - Internship
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Summer 2022 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024 / Summer 2024 / Fall 2024 / Spring 2025 / Summer 2025 / Fall 2025 / Spring 2026
MDST 6051 - Media Theories
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2023
Studies theories and perspectives of mass and networked communication and explores the role of media in society.
MDST 6551 - Media and Communication Policy
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2022
Surveys historical and contemporary developments in media and communications policy, emphasizing social and cultural dimensions.
MDST 7011 - Proseminar in Media Communication Theory 1
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2020 / Fall 2021
Introduces the principal concepts, literature, and theoretical and paradigmatic perspectives of media studies and mass communication and their ties and contributions to parallel domains in the social sciences and humanities. Formerly MDST 7011.
