Amy Kristin Sanders

Dr. Amy Kristin Sanders is an award-winning journalist, licensed attorney and tenured associate professor in the School of Journalism and Media. Also an associate professor (by courtesy) at UT’s Law School, she serves as the first female editor of Communication Law and Policy. Sanders previously taught at Northwestern University’s campus in Doha, Qatar. She began her academic career at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities’ Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Sanders studies the legal regulation and ethical use of emerging technologies, with an emphasis on freedom of expression and democratic values. Specifically, her work focuses on media law and ethics issues globally, including 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. She 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).

An expert witness and consultant to Fortune 500 companies on media law and ethics issues, Sanders regularly counsels international governments and law firms regarding regulatory proceedings, policy development and pending litigation. Most recently, she was retained as an expert witness on journalism standards and practices in the Fox News/Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit. In addition, she served as the Secretary on the Board of Directors 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 is a frequent commentor on domestic and international media law and ethics issues, and she 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. 

As a professor, Sanders 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 even before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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, where she focused her studies on the First Amendment, media law and internet governance.