C. Edwin Baker (May 28, 1947 – December 8, 2009), the Nicholas F. Gallicchio Professor of Law and Communication at the
University of Pennsylvania Law School, was a scholar of
constitutional law,
communications law, and
free speech.
Biography
Baker was considered one of the country's foremost authorities on the
First Amendment and on mass media policy. His most recent scholarship focused on the economics of the news business, political philosophy, and jurisprudential questions concerning the egalitarian and
libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
bases of constitutional theory.
Baker was a native of
Madisonville, Kentucky
Madisonville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Hopkins County, Kentucky, United States, located along Interstate 69 in the state's Western Coal Fields region. The population was 19,591 at the 2010 census. Madisonville is a com ...
. He received his bachelor's degree from
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
and his J.D. degree from
Yale Law School. He was a law and humanities fellow at
Harvard University in 1974, a fellow at Harvard's Shorenstein Barone Center in 1992, and a Radcliffe fellow there in 2006.
Baker served as a staff attorney for the
American Civil Liberties Union and was a professor at the
University of Oregon and an assistant professor at the
University of Toledo. He joined the
University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1981, and since 2007 held a joint appointment at the
Annenberg School for Communication at Penn. He was also a visiting professor at
New York University, the
University of Chicago,
Cornell University,
Harvard University, and the
University of Texas.
Baker died on December 8, 2009, after he collapsed while exercising. Baker was survived by his sister, Nancy L. Baker a member of the faculty at Fielding Graduate University. He was predeceased by his parents, Falcon O. Baker Jr. and Ernestine Magagna Baker.
Books
* ''Human Liberty and Freedom of Speech'' (Oxford, 1989) defends interpreting First Amendment freedom of speech as concerned primarily with individual freedom and autonomy rather than the more traditional understanding of it being about a marketplace of ideas
* ''Advertising and a Democratic Press'' (Princeton, 1994)
* ''Media, Markets, and Democracy'' (Cambridge, 2002), 2002 winner of the Donald McGannon Award for Social and Ethical Relevance in Communications Policy Research.
This book has been translated into Chinese and a number of other languages.
* ''Media Concentration and Democracy: Why Ownership Matters'' (Cambridge, 2007)
References
External links
CV at Penn LawBlog: an appreciation of C. Edwin Baker, 1947-2009SSRN pagePapers to be held at West Virginia University College of Law LibraryBaker Links:
WVU COL Baker Lecture PageRadcliffe Institute For Advanced Study Harvard University
Friends of Ed Baker, Facebook
The C. Edwin Baker Media Policy Fellowship
National Center for Lesbian Rights C. Edwin Baker Clerkship
National Center for Lesbian Rights article in the newsletter, The Docket: Law Scholar C. Edwin Baker's Estate Donates $150,000 Gift to NCLR
The Daily Pennsylvanian obituary
International Communication Association: C. Edwin Baker Award for the Advancement of Scholarship on Media, Markets and DemocracyFree Press AnnouncementFuture of Music Collation: FMC Honors C. Edwin BakerTestimony of C. Edwin Baker before the Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy, Committee on the Judiciary. House of Representatives, Congress of the United States Hearing on: A New Age in For Newspapers, Diversity of Voices, Competition and the Internet*
Angelo State University Symposium: Market Threats to Press Freedom by C. Edwin Baker
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Harvard Fellows
1947 births
2009 deaths
First Amendment scholars
American scholars of constitutional law
Radcliffe fellows
Stanford University alumni
University of Pennsylvania Law School faculty
Yale Law School alumni