Jad Melki, Ph.D., is associate professor of journalism and media studies and chairperson of the Department of Communication Arts at the Lebanese American University (LAU) and the director of the Institute of Media Research and Training. He is also a visiting faculty at the Salzburg Academy and an affiliated researcher at the International Center on Media and the Public Agenda (ICMPA) at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research is at the intersection of digital media literacy, media and war, and gender studies, and focuses on Arab media and journalism education. Previously, Melki was founding director of Media Studies at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and has taught at the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, Towson University, and the Jordan Media Institute. As a former broadcast and digital journalist, Melki was part of the team that won a Webby Award and a National Press Club Award for covering the 2006 Lebanon-Israel war. In 2015, he won the UNESCO-UNAoC International Media and Information Literacy Award for advancing media literacy education in the Arab region through founding the Media and Digital Literacy Academy of Beirut (MDLAB), which he chairs. Melki received his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Academic degrees

• Certificate in Data Science, Johns Hopkins University/Coursera, USA, 2016.
• Ph.D., Journalism & Media Studies, University of Maryland, College Park, USA, 2008.
• Master of Arts, Journalism & Mass Communication, Kent State University, USA, 2001.
• Certificate IV in Television & Video Production, Metro Screen, Australia, 1998.
• Bachelor of Sciences, Computer Science, University of Balamand, Lebanon, 1996.

Publications

Melki, Jad, and Jabado, May. (in press). Mediated Public Diplomacy of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria: The synergistic use of terrorism, social media and branding. Media and Communication.

De Abreu, Belinha, Mihailidis, Paul, Melki, Jad, Lee, Alice, and McDougall, Julian (Eds). (in press). The International Handbook of Media Literacy. Routledge.

Melki, Jad, and Maaliki, Lubna. (in press). Helping Arab Digital and Media Literacy Blossom: Three years of the Media and Digital Literacy Academy of Beirut (MDLAB). UNESCO

Melki, Jad. (in press). [Reconciling critical media literacy and digital media literacy in Arab curricula by effectively fusing the critical and digital. Journal of Communication and Development] التوفيق بين التربية الاعلامية النقدية والتربية الاعلامية الرقمية في المناهج العربية من خلال الربط الفعال بين النقدية والرقمية، مجلة الاتصال والتنمية. 

Melki, Jad,* and Mallat, Sarah. (2015). [Advantages and Disadvantages of Digital Media for Activism, Al-Mustaqbal Al-Arabi, 432(Feb)] فعالية ام عبء النشاط الرقمي؟ حسنات ومساوئ الإعلام الرقمي والاجتماعي في النشاط المدني، المستقبل العربي

Melki, Jad.* (2015). Guiding digital and media literacy development in Arab curricula through understanding media uses of Arab youth. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 6(3), 14-28.

Melki, Jad.* (2015). التربية الاعلامية تقدم فرصاً لتقدم العالم العربي. الفنار

Melki, Jad.* (2015). Media Literacy Offers the Arab World a Way Forward. Al-Fanar. http://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2015/07/media-literacy-offers-the-arab-world-a-way-forward/

Melki, Jad.* (2014). Lebanon. In Freedom on the Net, Freedom House: Washington, DC. https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2014/lebanon

Melki, Jad* and Farah, May (PIs.), Fiedler, Anke, Reimpell, Philippine, and Maul, Gunnar (Eds.) (2014). Syria Audience Research. Media in Cooperation and Transition (MiCT): Berlin, Germany.

Hitti, Eveline, Melki, Jad, and Mufarrij, Afif. (2014). The Prevalence and Determinants of Anabolic Steroids Use among Fitness Center Attendees in Lebanon. International SportMed Journal, 15(4), 391-401. [Impact: 2013 (SJR), Score: 1.458 (Q4), Ranking: 159/212 Orthopedics and Sports Medicine]

Melki, Jad,* Hitti, Eveline, Oghia, Michael, and Mufarrij, Afif. (2014). Media Exposure, Mediated Social Comparison to Idealized Images of Muscularity, and Anabolic Steroid Use. Health Communication.
[Impact: 2013 (SJR), Score: 0.618 (Q1), Ranking: 58/235 Communication]

Melki, Jad,* and Mallat, Sarah. (2014). Block her entry, keep her down, and push her out: gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and the disenabling legal and social environments that face women journalists in the Arab world. Journalism Studies. DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2014.962919  [Impact: 2013 (SJR), Score: 1.458 (Q1), Ranking: 13/235 Communication]

Melki, Jad.* (2014). The interplay of politics, economics and culture in news framing of Middle East Wars. Media, War and Conflict, 7(2), 165-186. [Impact: 2013 (SJR), Score: 0.456 (Q2), Ranking: 68/235 Communication]

Melki, Jad,* and Mallat, Sarah. (2014). Digital Activism: Efficacies and burdens of digital and social media for civic activism. Arab Media and Society (Special Edition), 19(Fall).

Melki, Jad,* Mallat, Sarah, Farah, May, Annan, Rawan. (2014). [Confronting Rampant Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment in the News Workplace in Lebanon, Journal of Communication and Development, 11(September)] مواجهة التمييز والتحرّش الجنسي المتفشي في مجال العمل الإعلامي في لبنان، مجلة الاتصال والتنمية

Melki, Jad,* and Farah, May. (2014). Educating Media Professionals with a Gender and Critical Media Literacy Perspective: How to battle gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the media workplace. In Aimée Vega Montiel (Ed.), Media and Gender: A Scholarly Agenda for the Global Alliance on Media and Gender. International Association for Media and Communication Researchers (IAMCR) and UNESCO.

Melki, Jad,* and Deeb, Amal. (2013). [The media framing of war: Global media coverage of the 2006 war]
: . Al-Mustaqbal Al-Arabi (), 413 (July), 42-61. 

Melki, Jad.* Fromm, Megan, and Mihailidis, Paul. (2013). Trauma Journalism Education: teaching merits, curricular challenges, and instructional approaches. Journalism Education, 2(2), 62-77.

Melki, Jad.* (2013). Incorporating In-Depth Research Methodologies and Digital Competencies with Media Literacy Pedagogies. In Paul Mihailidis (Ed.), News Literacy: Global Perspectives for the Newsroom and the Classroom (pp. 139-160). Mass Communication and Journalism series, Peter Lang.

Melki, Jad,* and Mallat, Sarah. (2013). Lebanon: Women Struggle for Gender Equality and Harassment-Free Newsrooms. In C. M. Byerly (Ed.), The Palgrave International Handbook on Women and Journalism. Palgrave Macmillan.

Melki, Jad.* (2013). Sowing The Seeds Of Digital And Media Literacy In Lebanon And The Arab World: The importance of a locally grown and sustainable curriculum. In Belinha De Abreu and Paul Mihailidis (Eds.), Media Literacy Education in Action: Theoretical and Pedagogical Perspectives. Routledge.

Melki, Jad,* Dabous, Yasmine, Nasser, Khaled, and Mallat, Sarah. (2012). Mapping Digital Media: Lebanon. In Mapping Digital Media, a multiple country study by the Open Society Foundations Media Program.

Melki, Jad.* (2011). Lebanon. In Carolyn Byerly (ed.). Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media. International Women’s Media Foundation: Washington, DC.

Melki, Jad.* (2011). The Plight of Media Education and Research in Arab Higher Education. In Chi-Kim Cheung (Ed.), Research in Media Education (pp. 83-108). New York: Nova Science.

Melki, Jad.* (2010). Media Habits of MENA Youth: A three-country survey. Issam Fares Institute Working Paper Series, #4. The Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, American University of Beirut.

Coombe, William, and Melki, Jad.* (2011). Global Media and Brand Dubai. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 8(1), 58-71. [Impact: 2013 (SJR), Score: 0.375, Rank (Q2): 136/340 Strategy and Management]

Melki, Jad.* (2009). Journalism and Media Studies in Lebanon.Journalism Studies, 10(5), 672-690.
[Impact: 2013 (SJR), Score: 1.458, Rank (Q1): 13/235 Communication]

Melki, Jad.* (2013). Lebanon. In Freedom on the Net, Freedom House: Washington, DC. http://www.freedomhouse.org/report-types/freedom-net

Melki, Jad.* (2011). Lebanon. In: Susan Moeller (Ed). The World Unplugged, International Center for Media and the Public Agenda, College Park: USA. http://theworldunplugged.wordpress.com/about/names

Melki, Jad.* (2009). Why Journalists Need to Learn About Trauma. Nieman Reports, (winter), Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.

Melki, Jad.* (2008). Television News and the State in Lebanon, University of Maryland, Dissertation.

Melki, Jad,* & Moeller, Susan, and Mihailidis, Paul. (2007). The Summer 2006 Conflict Between Hezbollah and Israel, One Year Later.Al-Mashriq, 6(22), 13-34.

Melki, Jad,* & Moeller, Susan. (2007). Covering War. Analyzing coverage of the summer 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war, International Center for Media & the Public Agenda, University of Maryland, July

Awards

• UNESCO-UNAoC International Media & Information Literacy Award, 2015.
• The (AUB) Abdul-Hamid Hallab Regional External Programs Service Excellence Award, 2014.
• Webby Award, 2006, for coverage of 2006 Lebanon war with Yahoo News Hot Zone team.
• National Press Club Award, 2006, coverage of 2006 war with Yahoo News Hot Zone team.
• Jack Shaheen Mass Communication Award for Arab-American Journalists, 2005.