About

Gretchen King

Associate Professor of Multimedia Journalism and Communication
Chairperson, Department of Communication, Mobility, and Identity

Associate Professor of Multimedia Journalism and Communication at the Lebanese American University (LAU), Gretchen King also serves as the director of pedagogy and curriculum design at LAU’s Institute of Media Research and Training, where she acts as the advisor and co-facilitator of the Rally Against Apartheid educational initiative. She is also the advisor to the LAU Live Broadcast Club launched in 2022 and course coordinator for COM 203 – Art of Public Communication.

An award-winning journalist, Dr. King served as news director at CKUT 90.3 FM in Montreal for ten years, for which she was presented the Community Radio “Legend”/Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 by the National Campus and Community Radio Association of Canada. Dr. King co-founded numerous multimedia initiatives, including Radio Free Palestine – an international, twenty-four-hour radio broadcast that marks the anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba. Dr. King also helped to co-found the Community Media Advocacy Centre in 2015, where she continues to act as a research consultant.

Research Interests

Her scholarship focuses on nonprofit, indigenous and community media research, policy, teaching and practice; journalism studies; critical audience studies; feminist media studies; alternative media; and community radio in the regions of North America, North Africa and Southwest Asia.

SDGs Research Mapping

Dr. Gretchen King conducts research relevant to the following SDGs:

Publications

  • Melki, Jad; King, Gretchen; Sakka, Yasmeen; Haidar, Rayan; Saati, Farah; and Mazloum, Nadine (2023). Gendered representations in Lebanese advertisements: flawless white femininity, heteronormative patriarchal masculinity, and the erasure of local diversity, Feminist Media Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2023.2194571
  • Attar, Dalia, and King, Gretchen (2023). Media Framing of the Intifada of the Knives. Media, War & Conflict. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506352221149554
  • Seuferling, Philipp; Forsler, Ingrid; King, Gretchen; Löfgren, Isabel; and Saati, Farah (2023). Diraya.media—Learning Media Literacy with and from Media Activists. International Journal of Communication, 17: 901–919. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/20058
  • King, Gretchen, and Odartey-Wellington, Felix (2022). Challenging “apartheid” on the Canadian airwaves: CMAC’s critical and intersectional approach to broadcasting policy advocacy, scholarship, and education. Canadian Journal of Communication, 47(3), 415–439. https://doi.org/10.3138/cjc.2022-0046
  • King, Gretchen (2021). From Chiapas to Palestine: Historicizing Social Movement Media Before and Beyond the Arab Uprisings. Media and Communication, 9(4), 320–330. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v9i4.4455
  • King, Gretchen, and Bonin-Labelle, Geneviève (2021). Assessing Assumptions: Surveying Diversity within Nonprofit Radio Stations in Canada. Being prepared for publication in the Journal of Radio and Audio Media. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376529.2021.1932903
  • King, Gretchen (2021). Palestine: Resilient Media Practices for National Liberation. In Richter, C., and Kozman, C., (eds.), Arab Media Systems (pp. 37-54). Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers. https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0238.03
  • King, Gretchen (2020). Radical media education practices from social movement media: Lessons from teaching and learning in Lebanon. In Frau‐Meigs, D., Kotilainen, S., Pathak‐Shelat, M., Hoechsmann, M., and Poyntz, S.R. (eds) The Handbook on Media Education Research (pp. 441-448). Oxford, UK: Wiley‐Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119166900.ch40
  • King, Gretchen (2020). Disrupting Settler Colonialism and Oppression in Media and Policy-Making: A View from the Community Media Advocacy Centre. In Jeppesen, S., and Sartoretto, P., (eds) Media Activist Research Ethics (pp. 109-129). Global Transformations in Media and Communication Research - A Palgrave and IAMCR Series. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44389-4_6
  • King, Gretchen and Omme-Salma Rahemtullah (2019). Community radio contradictions in Canada: Learning from volunteers impacted by commercializing policies and practices. Journal of Alternative and Community Media, 4(4), pp. 20–36.  https://doi.org/10.1386/joacm_00064_1
  • King, Gretchen (2017). History of Struggle: The Global Story of Community Broadcasting Practices, or a Brief History of Community Radio. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 12(2), pp. 18–36. http://doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.227

Creative Work

  • Diraya.media, an open-access educational platform in Arabic and English that compiles case studies of media activism from the Southwest Asia and North Africa (or SWANA) region and offers media literacy resources that build on these practices.
  • Advisor and co-facilitator for the Rally Against Apartheid, an independent educational initiative co-organized with the Institute of Media Research and Training at Lebanese American University. Offering free workshops and training sessions that are delivered by professionals and accessible to the LAU community and the public, the Rally’s programming aims to develop strong counter-narratives that debunk dominant Zionist narratives proliferated by the Israeli colonial apartheid regime and to cultivate skills that transform such counter-narratives into digital media.
  • Technical Director for “Radio Free Palestine,” aired on May 15th to commemorate the anniversary of the ongoing Palestinian Nakbah and resistance to Israeli Apartheid. Radio Free Palestine features 24 hours of programming from radio stations and producers across 5 continents. URL: http://www.RadioFreePalestine.org
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  • King, Gretchen (July 2020). Media and information literacy as a defense against privacy and data protection infringements. Speaker for a webinar hosted by UNESCO and the Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy on July 2nd. Retrieved from: https://www.facebook.com/MILCLICKS/videos/2718215398436560/
  • King, Gretchen (November 2019). Echoes of Indymedia: Infrastructures of resistance. Panel presentation part of OURMedia/NUESTROSMedios 2019 in Brussels, organized by Université Libre de Bruxelles and Universiteit Antwerpen on November 27th.
  • King, Gretchen and Odartey-Wellington, Felix (June 2019). Mobilizing knowledge to transform media governance. Paper presentation at the Canadian Communication Association annual conference, part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, held at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver on June 4th.
  • King, Gretchen and Vaz Cabral Filho, Adilson (July 2018). The Commercialization of Community TV in Brazil and Canada: Social Movement Media Challenges and Opportunities. Paper presentation at the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) annual conference held June 20-24, in Eugene, Oregon.
  • King, Gretchen (June 2018). Ending Fake News – Strengthening news literacy and political participation through deliberative methodologies that influence the future of media education. Paper presentation at the Canadian Communication Association Conference May 30 - June 1, part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, hosted by University of Regina.
  • King, Gretchen (May 2018). Strategizing for the Future of Broadcasting and Telecommunications Policy Reform in Canada. Participant in roundtable discussion held at the Canadian Communication Association Conference May 30 - June 1, part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, hosted by University of Regina (Canada).
  • King, Gretchen (2011). Community Radio “Legend”/Lifetime Achievement Award. Presented by the National Campus and Community Radio Association.
  • King, Gretchen (2009). Outstanding Achievement in Programming for Current Affairs or Magazine Show: “Off the Hour,” aired on CKUT-FM, Montreal. Awarded by the National Campus and Community Radio Association.
  • King, Gretchen (2009). Outstanding Achievement in Programming for Special Programming: “Radio Free Palestine,” aired on CKUT-FM, Montreal. Awarded by the National Campus and Community Radio Association.
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Recent Presentations

  • King, Gretchen; Ajjan, Maysaa; Cavalcanti, Christina; and Damianidou, Despoina (2023, March 31). Framing Victims or Villains? Investigating Bias towards Palestinians in Lebanese Media. Presentation for the School of Arts and Sciences Research Seminar Series at Lebanese American University.
  • King, Gretchen and Majzoub, Maya (2022, September). Decolonizing Media Literacy Curriculum through a “Praxis of Palestine.” Presentation at an international conference organized by the Arab and Muslims Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies program at San Francisco State University for Teaching Palestine 2022: Pedagogical Praxis & the Indivisibility of Justice called Memorializing Sabra & Shatila Massacre: Bearing Witness, Resilience, & Accountability, held in Beirut from September 10-11.
  • King, Gretchen; Ayyad, Zayna; Saati, Farah; and Makarem, Laure (2022, July). Exercising Communication Rights in Lebanon: A View from the Migrant Community Newsroom. Paper presentation for the Community Communication and Alternative Media Section (CAM) at the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) annual conference hosted in Beijing by Tsinghua University and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.
  • Saati, Farah; Forsler, Ingrid; King, Gretchen; Löfgren, Isabel; and Seuferling, Philipp (2022, July). Diraya – Learning Media Literacy with and from Activists in the SWANA Region. Paper presentation for the Media Education Research Section (MER) at the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) annual conference hosted in Beijing by Tsinghua University and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.
  • Karim, Mariam; Odartey-Wellington, Felix; Ferrer, Ilyan; and King, Gretchen (2022, May). Regional Insights from the Building an Anti-Racism Strategy for Canadian Broadcasting: Conversation & Convergence. Paper presentation at the Canadian Communication Association annual conference, part of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada.

Awards

  • King, Gretchen (2023). Faculty Fellow with the Center for Innovative Learning (CIL), selected to launch LAU’s first open, online learning (OOL) course called A Short Course on Media and Palestine available each Fall at https://online.lau.edu.lb/
  • King, Gretchen (2011). Community Radio “Legend”/Lifetime Achievement Award. Presented by the National Campus and Community Radio Association.
  • King, Gretchen (2009). Outstanding Achievement in Programming for Current Affairs or Magazine Show: “Off the Hour,” aired on CKUT-FM, Montreal. Awarded by the National Campus and Community Radio Association.
  • King, Gretchen (2009). Outstanding Achievement in Programming for Special Programming: “Radio Free Palestine,” aired on CKUT-FM, Montreal. Awarded by the National Campus and Community Radio Association.
  • King, Gretchen (2003). Standard Radio Awards for Excellence in Community Broadcasting for National Initiatives: “The Homelessness Marathon.” Awarded by the National Campus and Community Radio Association.

Academic Degrees

  • PhD, Communication Studies, McGill University (Canada)
  • MA, Anthropology, Syracuse University, Syracuse (USA)
  • BA, Ethnomusicology, University of Washington, Seattle (USA)