Archive | Center for Media Law and Policy

Dr. Victoria “Tori” Ekstrand will join the faculty of the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication this fall to teach media law and Interent law and work in the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy.

Ekstrand’s research interests include the history of news piracy in the United States, anonymous speech and the digital free culture movement. She is the author of a book on the hot news doctrine and currently is working on a new, updated edition of that book.

Ekstrand earned a Ph.D. in mass communication from UNC in 2003. At that time, she was honored as the outstanding Ph.D. graduate in her class. Since then she has been on the faculty at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

Ekstrand also worked in corporate communications for the Associated Press in New York from 1990 to 1999. She ended her time there as the director of corporate communications. Before that she worked for several years as a reporter and anchor for AM radio stations.

David Ardia, director of the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard University, will join the UNC School of Law faculty and become co-director of the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy effective July 1, 2011.

The Citizen Media Law Project provides legal education, assistance and other resources for individuals and organizations involved in online journalism and citizen media. Ardia also is a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

Prior to coming to Harvard, Ardia was assistant counsel at The Washington Post, where he provided pre-publication review and legal advice on First Amendment, newsgathering, intellectual property and general business issues. Ardia also served as a law clerk for Judge Conrad Cyr on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and practiced law at Williams and Connolly in Washington, D.C., where he handled a wide range of media law issues.

Ardia’s research focuses on examining the impact of new information technologies on law and society.  His recent publications include these two law review articles: “Free Speech Savior or Shield for Scoundrels: An Empirical Study of Intermediary Immunity Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act,” 43 Loy. L.A.L. Rev. 373 (2010), and “Reputation in a Networked World: Revisiting the Social Foundations of Defamation Law,” 45 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 261 (2010).

Ardia received his J.D. degree, summa cum laude, from Syracuse University College of Law and received an LL.M. from Harvard Law School.  Prior to coming to Harvard, he was assistant counsel at The Washington Post, where he provided pre-publication review and legal advice on First Amendment, newsgathering, intellectual property and general business issues.