Amy Kristin Sanders

Amy Kristin Sanders is the John and Ann Curley Chair in First Amendment Studies at Penn State. A licensed attorney and award-winning former journalist, Sanders is an internationally recognized expert on the legal regulation and ethical use of emerging technologies, with an emphasis on freedom of expression and democratic values. Specifically, her work focuses media freedom, access to information and government transparency, freedom of speech and the regulation of social media and emerging technologies.

Sanders has published more than 30 scholarly articles in law reviews and mass communication journals, including the Georgia Law Review, Tulane Law Review, the Journal of International Media & Entertainment Law, Federal Communication Law Journal, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly and the Journal of Civic Information. Her research has been funded by multiple grants, including from the National Science Foundation. Sanders co-authors the widely recognized law school casebook "First Amendment and the Fourth Estate: The Law of Mass Media," published by Foundation Press (Thomson Reuters). In 2020, she was selected to serve as the first female editor of Communication Law and Policy, a highly respected, peer-reviewed journal in her field.

Sanders regularly serves as an expert witness and consultant to Fortune 500 companies on media law and ethics issues, and she counsels international governments and law firms regarding regulatory proceedings, policy development and pending litigation. Sanders has been quoted by the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, Reason, Mother Jones, Wired and numerous other newspapers, magazines and television stations. In addition, she has published opinion columns in major newspapers, including USA Today, the Houston Chronicle and the Austin American-Statesman.

Prior to her appointment at Penn State, Sanders taught at the University of Texas, the University of Minnesota and Northwestern University’s international campus in Doha, Qatar. She has developed and taught courses on comparative media law, media ethics, social media law and ethics, surveillance technologies and media leadership. Her pedagogy work has been funded by grants aimed to increase the use of technology in the classroom and to develop hybrid courses long before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sanders serves on the Truman State University Foundation Board of the Directors. Before that, she was the Board Secretary and Governance Chair for the Student Press Law Center, a D.C.-based nonprofit organization that promotes, supports and defends the First Amendment rights of student journalists and their advisers.

Sanders worked as a copy editor and page designer for the Gainesville (Fla.) Sun, then a New York Times Co. newspaper. She holds a Ph.D. in mass communication from the University of Florida. She earned her M.A. in professional journalism and her Juris Doctorate at the University of Iowa. Sanders is a proud graduate of Truman State University (’01), where she earned a B.A. in communication and a B.S. in justice systems.