Tom Jacobson

Tom Jacobson is Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Communications and Theater at Temple University. Research interests include national development, democratization, and public communication.

Tom received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington. Before arriving at Temple in 2005 he served as Chair of SUNY-Buffalo’s Department of Communication and was founding Director of its Informatics Research Center.  He has been a Visiting Professor at Northwestern and Cornell Universities and is past President of the Participatory Communication Research Section of the International Association of Media and Communication Research.  Recent publications include:  T.L. Jacobson, “Harmonious Society, Civil Society and the Media: A Communicative Action Perspective,” China Media Research (Forthcoming, Vol. 4, 2008).  Odugbemi, S & Jacobson T. L.  (Eds.) (2008). Governance Reform Under Real World Conditions: Citizens, Stakeholders, and Voice. Washington DC: The World Bank. And  T.L. Jacobson (2007). “A Case for Quantitative Assessment of Participatory Communication Programs,” Glocal Times, (Web magazine, Issue 9). 

Lately, Tom is concerned that despite historical valorization of the idea of the voice of the people, more could be done by governments and media practitioners to actually listen.  He is working on survey research protocols to determine the extent to which people feel that media represent citizen interests and that governments listen, in developed as well as developing societies.