biography

  • Biography

    Dr. Leonardo Ferreira is Professor at the Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media, member of the Faculty Advisory Board and former Director of the Andean Studies Program of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University (FIU). He has also been a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly for nearly 15 years.

    With a PhD in Mass Media from Michigan State University and a JD degree from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia Law School, Professor Ferreira specializes in the study of comparative media law and ethics in the Americas and the history of Latin American communication, including ethnic and community reporting. A Martin Luther King Jr. - César Chávez - Rosa Parks Doctoral Fellow, sponsored by the State of Michigan, Ferreira has been a consultant for Freedom House and the Grupo de Diarios América (GDA). He has worked on projects with the U.S. Department of State, UNESCO, UNICEF, the Organization of American States (OAS), the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF), Fleishman-Hillard, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA), The Miami Foundation, and the Foundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) of the Dominican Republic, among others. Ferreira has also participated in several Latin American news programs, such as BBC Mundo and CNN en Español.

    Dr. Ferreira has published works in U.S., British, Spanish, and Latin American academic journals and encyclopedias. His Centuries of Silence: The Story of Latin American Journalism (Praeger, 2006) became a bestseller among U.S. libraries. Choice Magazine of the American Library Association (ALA) called this book: “Probably the most detailed account of the Latin American mass media ever written in English” (May 2007). His second volume, Comparative Media Laws in Latin America, is expected in early fall 2025 (Routledge, United Kingdom). He is also working on a journalism monograph about the indigenous contribution to the field in the Americas (Native Journalism: From Precolumbian to Contemporary Times). The sixth edition of his trilogy on Latin American defamation and privacy (Argentina, Chile, and Mexico) appears in the International Libel & Privacy Handbook (LexisNexis, 2022-2023 Edition).

selected scholarly works & creative activities

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full name

  • Leonardo Ferreira

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