Josh Shepperd

Josh Shepperd pulls from critical and phenomenological methods to research the role of media in civil society, with a focus on the history of experiments in media activism and democracy in the U.S. Josh designs and directs national applied policy projects as Sound Fellow of the Library of Congress and National Recording Preservation Foundation.

His recent book "Shadow of the New Deal: The Victory of Public Broadcasting" (UIUC Press) was recognized by five book awards. Josh is currently co-authoring the official history of US public media for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Current, and is working on a monograph that traces the hermeneutical history of research and development in media industries from the origins of audience analysis to digital analytics. He’s additionally the founding Associate Editor of Resonance: The Journal of Sound and Culture (UC Press).

Josh’s public and scholarly research has been supported by the Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Archive, LBJ Presidential Library, and NEH, and he’s been featured by over 75 media outlets, including Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, AP, Washington Post, NPR, PBS, CBS, C-Span, The Atlantic, Vox, Time, The Hill, Chicago Tribune, and Columbia Journalism Review.