Matthew D. Bunker, Reese Phifer Professor of Journalism Emeritus, the University of Alabama, has been awarded the 2020 Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Lifetime Achievement in Scholarship Award.
Matthew D. Bunker’s research interests include First Amendment theory and doctrine, defamation, and intellectual property law. He is the author of three books, including the award-winning “Critiquing Free Speech: First Amendment Theory and the Challenge of Interdisciplinarity.” He has published numerous academic articles in such journals as the Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts, Communication Law and Policy, Duke Law and Technology Review, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, and the UCLA Entertainment Law Review.
Previously, Bunker taught for 26 years at the University of Alabama, where he held the endowed position of Reese Phifer Professor of Journalism. Now retired, Bunker currently is a part-time lecturer at California State University, Long Beach. He has also worked at an attorney and as a journalist. He received his J.D. from the University of Kansas, where he served as an editor of the Kansas Law Review, and his Ph.D. from the University of Florida.
BEA’s Lifetime Achievement in Scholarship recognizes significant contributions to research and scholarship involving broadcast and electronic media. Recipients are evidenced by related extensive publication in books and leading journals, for at least twenty years. The LAS will be awarded to Dr. Bunker at BEA’s annual convention at the Las Vegas Westgate during a ceremony and reception on the evening of Sunday, April 19th. He will give a formal presentation, Attack of the Zombie Constitution: The Perils of First Amendment Originalism. immediately preceding the awards ceremony that evening.
