Courtney C. Radsch

Courtney C. Radsch, Ph.D. is the director of the Center for Journalism and Liberty at the Open Markets Institute. In this role, Radsch produces and oversees cutting-edge research into news media market structures and helps design smart policy solutions to protect and bolster journalism’s financial and editorial independence. 

Radsch is a journalist, scholar, and advocate focused on the intersection of technology, media, and rights. Previously, she was a fellow at UCLA’s Institute for Technology, Law & Policy where her research focused on media sustainability and the platformatization of journalism; AI governance and information ecosystems; and the evolving socioeconomic and technopolitical effects of media and technology. She is the author of Cyberactivism and Citizen Journalism in Egypt: Digital Dissidence and Political Change (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2016) and has published in top media outlets, including The New York Times, Forbes, Newsweek, Al Jazeera, Columbia Journalism Review, and Project Syndicate, among others, as well as peer-reviewed journals. Radsch is a frequent public speaker and regularly provides expert commentary in the media, including CNN, Al Jazeera, NPR, and other global media outlets. She has led media assessment and advocacy missions to more than a dozen countries and has provided expert testimony to Congress, the EU, OSCE, OECD, and the United Nations.

Radsch specializes in transforming research and ideas into action while building cross-functional organizational strategies and alliances to advance policy objectives and knowledge. She is a strategic advisor to leading human rights and media freedom organizations and previously led advocacy and communications at the Committee to Protect Journalists, freedom of expression work in the Arab region at UNESCO, and worked as journalist in the U.S. and Middle East.

Her scholarship and work are informed by a commitment to human rights and ensuring the sustainability of independent media, and as a member of the responsible tech movement she serves on the boards of several organizations working on technology policy and human rights including Tech Policy Press, Ranking Digital Rights, and the Dangerous Speech Project. Radsch specializes in transforming research and ideas into action while building cross-functional organizational strategies and alliances to advance policy objectives and knowledge. 

She holds a Ph.D. in international relations from American University, a M.S. from Georgetown University, and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.