Jane Hall is a professor in journalism and media studies in the School of Communication. She specializes in media and politics, particularly issues of special interest to young people, the depiction of women in media and politics, media ethics and popular culture.

A former weekly commentator on Fox News Channel, she regularly appears as a commentator and media expert on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” MSNBC, PBS, NPR, C-SPAN and other TV networks . Before coming to American University, Hall was a journalist covering the news media in New York for the Los Angeles Times, where she won numerous awards for her reporting, including being a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Prof. Hall is moderator and executive producer for the long-running American Forum radio and TV series in Washington, D.C., interviewing prominent newsmakers on WAMU public radio, NBC4, the Newseum, on campus and online. Over the past several years, Prof. Hall has worked with the non-partisan Kennedy Political Union and other student groups to moderate and produce exciting interview events and video programming with prominent newsmakers, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, CNN’s Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper, Washington Post editor Marty Baron, Anita Hill, Donna Brazile, NBC’s Chuck Todd, civil-rights leader Julian Bond, Maria Elena Salinas, Ana Navarro and Patti Solis Doyle. During her career, Hall has also interviewed talk-show hosts, senators, entertainment and news executives, celebrities, authors and many other prominent figures. Her recent op-ed for the New York Times about Fox News, sexual harassment and politics was widely quoted, as is her commentary on TV and radio. She is a frequent contributor to Columbia Journalism Review, the Harvard International Journal of Press and Politics and other publications; and she is frequently interviewed about media and politics by the New York Times, the Washington Post, AP, Politico and other outlets. She has written the chapter about the status of women in media for the two-volume Sage reference book Gender and Women’s Leadership, and her co-authored survey of self- censorship by war correspondents in Iraq as well as her other writing about media and politics are regularly cited and have had impact.

Prof. Hall teaches courses in advanced reporting and media studies, including politics and the media and a large freshman course about mass media and popular culture. She has collaborated with news organizations on numerous projects, and she is a popular moderator of events in D.C. and New York. In 2014 she was chosen Professor of the Year by AU student government for her work with students.

A native of Abilene, Texas, Prof. 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.