Christopher Ali is a doctoral student at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He comes to Annenberg with a B.A. in Film and Media Studies from the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Canada and a Master’s Degree (MA) in Media Studies from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. There, my thesis, titled, “Of Logos and Owners: The Re-branding of Canada’s private television networks”, combined political and cultural economy to interrogate the history of branding and identification at three, privately owned television stations in Winnipeg, Manitoba. My current research interests build off my thesis and revolve around: Canadian and American broadcasting history and policy; Local Media and Localism; Public Media and Public Broadcasting; Canadian and American telecommunications Policy; Comparative Media Systems; Political Economy and Cultural Economy.
In addition to my studies at Annenberg, I am also an intern with the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) currently involved in research on public media and noncommercial broadcasting for the upcoming Future of Media Inquiry Report.