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About Us

Kathy Roberts Forde

Education

Ph.D. Mass Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

M.A. English, Middlebury College

Current Research Interests

  • Journalism history and the history of print culture
  • Literary or narrative journalism
  • Media law with emphasis on First Amendment issues and libel law

Courses taught

JOUR 3004, Information for Mass Communication

JOUR 3007, The Media in American History and Law

JOUR 3776, Mass Communication Law

JOUR 5601, History of Journalism

JOUR 5606W/ENGW 5606, Literary Aspects of Journalism

JOUR 8601, Seminar: Methods in Mass Communication History Research

JOUR 8602, Seminar: History of Mass Communication

Professional experience

  • Served as editorial assistant for the journal, Mass Communication and Society
  • Freelance writer published in The Independent Weekly (Durham, NC), Duke Law Magazine, and other publications
  • Taught English at The Baylor School, Chattanooga, Tenn., and Durham Academy, Durham, N.C.

Selected Publications

Forde, Kathy Roberts. (2008) Literary Journalism on Trial: Masson v. New Yorker and the First Amendment. University of Massachusetts Press.

Forde, Kathy Roberts. (2007). Discovering the explanatory report in American newspapers. Journalism Practice 1 (2), 227-244.

Forde, Kathy Roberts. (2006). Libel, freedom of the press, and the New Yorker. American Journalism, 23(4). 61-91

Forde, Kathy Roberts. (2005). How Masson v. New Yorker has shaped the legal landscape of narrative journalism. Communication Law & Policy, 10. 101-133.

Pardun, Carol, & Kathy Roberts Forde. (2006). Sexual content of television commercials watched by early adolescents. In T. Reichert & J. Lambiase, (Eds.), Sex in consumer culture: The erotic content of media and marketing (pp. 125-139). Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Pardun, Carol & Forde, Kathy Roberts. (2003). Sex in the media: Do condom ads have a chance? SEICUS Report, 31. 22-23.

Awards and Recognition

Nafziger-White Dissertation Award, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, 2006.

Honorable mention, Best Article of 2006, American Journalism.

Faculty Summer Research Fellowship and McKnight Summer Fellowship, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Summer 2006.

John B. Adams Award Excellence in Mass Communication Law, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 2005.

Minnie S. and Eli A. Rubinstein Research Award, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 2005.

William Francis Clingman Jr. Ethics Award, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 2004.

Top Three Student Paper, Law Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, AEJMC national conference, 2003.