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Philip Michael Napoli

James R. Shepley Distinguished Professor of Public Policy
Sanford School of Public Policy
123 Sanford Building, Box 90245, Durham, NC 27708
123 Sanford Building, Box 90245, Durham, NC 27708
Office hours Tuesdays, 12:30 -- 2:30 and by appointment  

Overview


Philip M. Napoli is the James R. Shepley Professor of Public Policy, Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy, and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research for the Sanford School.  He also serves as a Docent at the University of Helsinki.

Professor Napoli's research focuses on media institutions and media regulation and policy.  He has provided formal and informal expert testimony on these topics to government bodies such as the U.S. Senate, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Congressional Research Service. 

Professor Napoli is the author of four books: Foundations of Communications Policy: Principles and Process in the Regulation of Electronic Media (Hampton Press, 2001); Audience Economics: Media Institutions and the Audience Marketplace (Columbia University Press, 2003) (winner of the Robert Picard Award for the Best Book in Media Management and Economics from the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication); Audience Evolution: New Technologies and the Transformation of Media Audiences (Columbia University Press, 2011), and Social Media and the Public Interest: Media Regulation in the Disinformation Age (Columbia University, 2019)  He is also the editor of Media Diversity and Localism: Meaning and Metrics (Routledge, 2007) and co-editor with Minna Aslama of Communications Research in Action: Scholar-Activist Collaborations for a Democratic Public Sphere (Fordham University Press, 2011).  Professor Napoli has also published over 50 articles in legal, public policy, journalism, and communication journals; as well as over 30 invited book chapters in edited collections. 

Professor Napoli's research has received awards from the National Business and Economics Society, the Broadcast Education Association, the International Communication Association and the National Communication Association, and has been cited in a number of government proceedings and reports.  His research has been funded by organizations such as the Ford Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and the Center for American Progress.  His current project, funded by the Democracy Fund, is the News Measures Research Project, which focuses on developing new approaches to assessing the health of local journalism ecosystems, in an effort to identify the community characteristics that impact the health of local journalism.

Professor Napoli is a firm believer in engaged scholarship, and has engaged in research consultations and collaborations with a wide range of organizations, including the Federal Communications Commission, the New America Foundation, Free Press, the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council, the Center for Creative Voices in Media, Internews, the American Television Alliance, the National Association of Broadcasters, and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association.  He has been interviewed in media outlets such as the NBC Nightly News, the Huffington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Politico, and National Public Radio.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


James R. Shepley Distinguished Professor of Public Policy · 2016 - Present Sanford School of Public Policy
Professor in the Sanford School of Public Policy · 2016 - Present Sanford School of Public Policy
Director of the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy · 2021 - Present DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy, Sanford School of Public Policy
Associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society · 2019 - Present Duke Science & Society, University Initiatives & Academic Support Units

In the News


Published March 21, 2025
Policy 360 Podcast: When Political Leaders Own the Media Platforms
Published October 15, 2024
Political Lies and the Fact-Checks that Expose Them, on Sanford’s Podcast
Published October 3, 2024
What’s New in Duke Courses

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Recent Publications


In pursuit of ignorance: The institutional assault on disinformation and hate speech research

Journal Article Information Society · January 1, 2025 This article examines ongoing efforts to discourage disinformation and hate speech research in the U.S. These initiatives originate from a variety of institutional actors, including digital platforms, congressional committees, state attorneys general, and ... Full text Cite

Epistemic Rights, Information Inequalities, and Public Policy

Chapter · January 1, 2024 This chapter provides an overview of the range of information inequalities that are fundamentally connected with the notion of epistemic rights and considers the various ways that public policy has—or could—address these inequalities. As this chapter illus ... Full text Cite

What Is Media Policy?

Journal Article The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science · May 2023 This article offers a definition of media policy and, through a discussion of specific areas of public policy, describes the scope of media policy as an area of potential government intervention. I argue for a more expansive conceptualization of m ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


Under-Informative Political News in the Contemporary American Media Landscape

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Rapoport Family Foundation · 2024 - 2025

Estimating the Local Journalism Funding Gap

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Democracy Fund · 2022 - 2025

Automated Assessment and Local Journalism: Continuing the Work of the News Measures Research Project

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Democracy Fund · 2018 - 2021

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Education, Training & Certifications


Northwestern University · 1997 Ph.D.
Boston University · 1994 M.S.
University of California, Berkeley · 1991 B.A.