Jay G Blumler is emeritus professor of Public Communication at the University of Leeds and emeritus professor of Journalism at the University of Maryland. He was born on the 18th of February 1924 (age 94), in New York, United States.
He is a leading, internationally recognized figure in political communication, having published numerous books, including The Crisis of Public Communication (1995). He is a fellow and former president of the International Communication Association. In 2006 Blumler was given a lifetime achievement award by the American Political Science Association.
Professor Jay Blumle was a political science graduate of Antioch College, and a doctoral student from 1947 at the London School of Economics. He taught at Ruskin College, Oxford, before taking a position in Leeds in 1963, as Granada Television Research Fellow.
Professor Jay Blumler has published an essay looking back on his career in communication and political communication research. It’s a fascinating read from one of the pioneers of the field, spanning the emergence of his approach to mass communication and political communication, his arrival at Leeds in 1963, through the main events and milestones in his career and academic research, to his current work with Professor Stephen Coleman at ICS, and others.