As a journalism historian, Robin’s research centers on the gaps, silences, and omissions that occur when mainstream media outlets misrepresent or ignore minority communities. Her work specifically examines Black media, the Black Press, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), with particular attention to how media policy and ownership shape representation and voice. Her doctoral dissertation on the FCC’s efforts to increase broadcast minority ownership in the 1970s won top dissertation award honors from both the American Journalism Historians Association and the Broadcasters Education Association.
Robin Sundaramoorthy
Assistant Professor
610.758.4136
ros325@lehigh.edu
Education:
B.A., English, B.A., Mass Communication, Newberry College
M.A., Journalism, Michigan State University
Ph.D., Journalism, University of Maryland
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Research Areas
Additional Interests
- Black Press
- Black Media
- Oral History
- Archives
- Women in the Media
- Federal Communications Commission
- Telecommunications History
Research Statement
Biography
Robin brings two decades of experience as a TV news journalist to her academic work, providing a critical lens on how media practices shape public knowledge, memory, and power. Before entering academia, Robin was a TV news journalist producing content and managing newsrooms at both the local and network levels. Most notably, she covered the campaigns and elections of Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump. She also produced a story about four lifelong, African American friends who were turning 100 within weeks of each other. The story garnered more than four million views on social media, and was widely reported on by various media outlets across the country.
As a journalism historian, Robin’s work focuses on silences, gaps, and omissions in the media. Her research is guided by the notion that who the media leaves out is just as important as who is included. She examines how issues of ownership, regulation, and representation intersect to limit or expand the voices of marginalized communities. A key area of her research investigates how Black women have resisted exclusion and created vital spaces of truth-telling, advocacy, and community within the Black Press.
Robin earned her doctorate in journalism from Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Her award-winning doctoral dissertation explores efforts by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to increase broadcast minority ownership. Her work examines FCC Docket No. 80-90. This 1980s rule led to the creation of approximately 700 new FM stations in small-to-mid-sized communities across the country, providing opportunities for local and minority broadcasters.
She also holds a master’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University and bachelor’s degrees in English and mass communications from Newberry College.
Robin has taught a variety of courses at the University of Maryland, American University, and Trinity Washington University. She encourages her students to critically engage with journalism history and its relevance to contemporary debates about media, democracy, and equity.
Scholarship
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Velloso, Carolina and Robin Sundaramoorthy “‘Sepia Queen of Ice’: News Coverage of Pioneering Black Ice Skater Mabel Fairbanks.” American Journalism: A Journal of Media History. (Forthcoming).
Book Chapters
Sundaramoorthy, Robin M. “From Women’s Suffrage to Civil Rights: How The Woman’s Era and Aframerican Women’s Journal Negotiated the Tensions of a Changing World.” In The Feminist Press: From the Nineteenth Century to The 19th News, eds. Tracy Everbach, Jane Marcellus and Linda Steiner. (Forthcoming).
Sundaramoorthy, Robin M. “Why Choose Journalism? In All the News: Writing and Reporting for Convergent Media by Thom Lieb. Pearson Education, Inc, 2009.
Essays
Sundaramoorthy, Robin M. “The Impact of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on Minority Broadcast Ownership.” AEJMC, JournalismHistory.org, September 18, 2024, https://journalism-history.org/2024/09/18/essay-series-a-turbulent-week-in-april-1968-copy-2/.
Sundaramoorthy, Robin M. and Jinx Broussard. “Writing and ‘Righting’: African American Women Seek the Vote.” In Front Pages Front Lines: Media and the Fight for Women’s Suffrage, Linda Steiner, Carolyn Kitch, Brooke Kroeger, eds. University of Illinois Press, 2020.
Invited Panel Presentations
“The Media of History of Modern Labors,” Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), San Francisco, August 2025, Kathryn Montalbano, Cristoph Mergerson, Matt Conaty, and Robin Sundaramoorthy.
“Fearless Teaching with Joy,” 30th Annual Innovations in Teaching Learning Conference, University of Maryland (UMD), May 2025, Jodi McFarland Friedman, We-Ping Lei, Ivy Lyons, Robin Sundaramoorthy, and Gea Ujčić.
“Examining Major News Events of the Past 5 Decades – Part 2,” Broadcasters Education Association (BEA), Las Vegas, April 2025, James Machado, Robin Sundaramoorthy, Lydia Timmins, Boriana Treadwell.
Panel Moderator, “The Fourth Estate,” Living Democracy Symposium, University of Maryland, October 2024, Kirsten Eddy, Cristoph Merguson, and Robin Sundaramoorthy.
“The Pittsburgh Courier: Chronicling Black Activism Across the Decades,” American Journalism Historians Association (AJHA), Pittsburgh, October 2024, Jinx Broussard, Suzannah Comfort, Rachel Grant, Cristina Mislán, and Robin Sundaramoorthy.
“The Politics of the Archive: From 1946 to the Trump Administration,” Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Philadelphia, August 2024, A.J. Bauer, Glenn Cooper, Lindsay Palmer, Robin Sundaramoorthy, and Kate Wright.
“Mediating the American Women’s Suffrage Movement.” International Communication Association (ICA Conference), Washington, DC, May 2019, Maurine Beasley, Carolyn Kitch, Linda Steiner, and Robin Sundaramoorthy.
Teaching
Visual Communication