Jason Shepard

Jason M. Shepard, Ph.D., is a media law scholar, associate professor and chair of the Department of Communications at California State University, Fullerton, one of the largest mass communications programs in the United States. His research examines the role of the First Amendment in American democracy, journalism and culture, and he teaches courses in journalism and media law, history and ethics. Shepard’s journalism and media-law scholarship includes more than 60 publications and presentations. He is co-author of Major Principles of Media Law, an annually updated textbook published by Cengage. His first book, Privileging the Press: Confidential Sources, Journalism Ethics and the First Amendment, explored the history and ethics of journalists' protection of confidential sources. He writes “Online Legalities,” a regular media law column for California Publisher. Shepard has a Ph.D. in mass communications, with a Ph.D. minor in law, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Shepard has two master’s degrees, in education (Pace University) and in journalism and mass communication (University of Wisconsin-Madison), and a bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science (University of Wisconsin-Madison). Before academia, Shepard worked as a former award-winning journalist in Wisconsin and Teach For America corps member in New York City.