Jane Hall

Jane Hall (janehallmedia.com) is an associate professor in the School of Communication at American University in Washigton, D.C., specializing in researching, writing and teaching about the intersection of media and politics and journalism.  Before joining American University, Hall was a journalist covering the news media, politics and policy for national publications, including nine years as the media correspondent for the Los Angeles Times in New York.  She was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and winner of the Los Angeles Times Editor′s Award and the Los Angeles Press Club Award.

Hall is moderator and executive producer for the long-running American Forum events series in Washington, D.C., interviewing prominent journalists and politicians with college students on TV, public radio and online.  Professor Hall has been a regular contributor to Columbia Journalism Review, the Harvard International Journal of Press and Politics and  the Freedom Forum Media Studies Journal; and  she has written for other publications from Rolling Stone to the Wall Street Journal. Her op-ed essay for the New York Times about the impact of Fox News on politics and journalism was widely quoted.  Hall is  frequently interviewed about issues in media and politics by the New York Times, Washington Post, AP, NPR, Politico and numerous other outlets. A former media commentator on Fox News Channel, she has regularly appeared as a media expert on CNN′s media-analysis program "Reliable Sources" as well as "PBS NewsHour," MSNBC, C-SPAN-TV and other networks .  

Hall has specialized in writing and teaching about the depiction of women in politics and media, including a chapter on the status of women in TV and print journalism for Sage’s Gender and Women′s Leadership: A Reference Handbook; she also focuses on writing and teaching about young people and news and politics as well as media ethics. Hall  co-authored a survey and analysis of more than 200 journalists regarding self-censorship of imagery from the Iraq War that was praised as an important study by Columbia Journalism Review.  

Prof. Hall teaches a popular inter-disciplinary course, Politics and the Media, that attracts majors from political science, political communication and journalism.  She also teaches courses in reporting on the federal government and on understanding media and popular culture.

Hall has collaborated with news organizations and students on numerous student-centered editorial and national polling projects, including a year-long series with the Washington Post around the 2008 presidential election as well as a year-long project about the 2018 Congressional mid-term elections that culminated in a live town hall on WAMU public radio in Washington, D.C.  Hall has twice been chosen Professor of the Year by student government at American University for her work with student groups.

A  native of Abilene, Texas, Professor Hall earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her master’s from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.