Researcher and Author Recognized for Contributions to Digital Media Field

FOR RELEASE: August 14, 2024

Contact: Richard T. Kaplar
The Media Institute
703-506-8030

Vienna, Va., August 14, 2024 – Stuart N. Brotman has been designated The Media Institute’s first “Digital Media Laureate,” it was announced today by Institute President Richard T. Kaplar.

This honor recognizes Brotman’s unique expertise and engagement in digital media developments as a researcher, policy analyst, author, and thought leader.  He is highly regarded as a leading global expert in the field.

Brotman has been associated with The Media Institute since 2015, when the Institute published and distributed his innovative research study, Net Vitality: Identifying the Top-Tier Global Broadband Internet Ecosystem Leaders.  The Institute’s Digital Media Center plans to release the latest version of this study, Net Vitality 3.0, in September 2024.

Brotman has coordinated the program activities of the Digital Media Center since it was launched in 2020.  His publications for the Center have included “Calibrating Digital Media Trends for the Post-Pandemic ‘New Normal,’” “Digital Media Trends To Follow in 2022,” and “Streaming Video Services: Beyond the Tipping Point.”  He also authored the book Privacy’s Perfect Storm: Digital Policy for Post-Pandemic Times (Miniver Press, 2020), based on his research as a Fellow at The Wilson Center’s Science and Technology Innovation Program in Washington, D.C.

“Stuart Brotman has been a significant force in positioning The Media Institute at the forefront of digital media issues,” said Institute President Richard T. Kaplar.  “As we celebrate the Institute’s 45th anniversary this year, we are pleased to recognize his extensive involvement, which has helped the Institute keep pace with the evolving media landscape.  This makes his designation as Digital Media Laureate all the more appropriate.”

Brotman was appointed the Institute’s first Distinguished Fellow in July 2020 and Distinguished Senior Fellow in September 2023.  He joined the Institute’s First Amendment Advisory Council in 2019.  He has been a frequent contributor to the Institute’s “Media & Communications Policy” blog, and serves as an adviser and contributor to The Madison Project: Free Speech and Press in American Democracy, a major public policy and education initiative of the Institute.

As Brotman noted, “This extraordinary honor is much appreciated, and one that inspires me to continue working at the cutting edge of dynamic digital media growth.  As hockey legend Wayne Gretzky wisely noted in another context, equally applicable, ‘Skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.’”

At the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Brotman serves as an interdisciplinary tenured Professor of Journalism and Media, and as a Research Fellow at its Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Haslam College of Business.  He is an elected member of the American Law Institute.

The Media Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization specializing in communications policy and the First Amendment. Visit the Institute at www.mediainstitute.org.

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