Sadly, as many members will be aware, C. Edwin Baker died on December 8, 2009. Since 1981 he had been the Nicholas F. Gallicchio Professor of Law and Communication at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, following positions at Chicago, Cornell, Texas and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He was a leading scholar of constitutional law, communications law, and free speech whose work is of huge and enduring relevance to the field of communication.
He is best known for four major books, Human Liberty and Freedom of Speech (1989), Advertising and a Democratic Press (1994), Media, Markets and Democracy (2002, and Media Concentration and Democracy: Why Media Ownership Matters (2007). He was the foremost U.S. authority on the First Amendment, a strong advocate of press freedom, and warned against the wider dangers from the abuse of government power and market power.
The Philosophy of Communication and the Communication Law and Policy Divisions are launching an annual C. Edwin Baker Award to honor Professor Baker's enormous contribution to communication scholarship. The Award has been established through an endowed fund created from Professor Baker's estate, for which the Divisions gratefully acknowledge the active support of Professor Baker's sister Dr Nancy Baker.
This annual Divisional Award (prize value US$500) will be run by the two Divisions. Nominees will have either (1) opened up new theoretical and/or methodological territory in research on any aspect of the interrelations between media, markets and democracy; or (2) made other important contributions to the advancement of scholarship on these inter-relations; or (3) engaged in activism that advanced scholarship on these inter-relations. The awards committee will favor research comprising multiple projects and publications over time, but single works and/or activities highly influential in the field may also qualify someone for nomination.
The award is open to ICA members and anyone else whose research can be shown to have a connection with the work of the ICA and its various divisions. All nominators must submit electronically by 11:00 pm EST, January 31 to the current chair of the Baker Award selection committee (for the 2011 award Nick Couldry, n.couldry@gold.ac.uk): (1) letter(s) of nomination, maximum two pages each, which (a) specify the relevant body of work and/or other contributions made; (b) address the work's and/or activity's contributions to scholarship of media, markets and democracy (if research, including theoretical and methodological assessments of that work); and (c) make a case for its influence and impact on the advancement of such scholarship; (2) representative examples of the work cited; and (3) a CV.
The initial selection committee will comprise the Chairs of Philosophy of Communication and Communication Law and Policy divisions (ex officio), Dr Nancy Baker, and Professors Dan Hallin, David Hesmondhalgh, and Monroe Price. We very much hope that relevant members will consider nominating themselves or others for this important new award.
