Scholar. Educator. Author.

Bala James Baptiste, Ph.D., a professor of mass communication and chair of the Division of Communications at Miles College, earned a doctorate in mass communication at Indiana University in 2003. The University Press of Mississippi published his book, Race and Radio: Pioneering Black Broadcasters in New Orleans in 2019. His scholarly articles appear in American Journalism, Journal of Radio and Audio Media, Louisiana History, and New Review of Film and Television Studies. Baptiste is chair of the African American and Civil Rights Caucus, an affiliate of the U.S. Library of Congress. His research interests intersect black people, mass media, and history. His mainstream articles appeared in the Atlanta Constitution, Times-Picayune, and the Birmingham Post-Herald, among others. He teaches Print News Reporting, Media Research Methods, and Introduction to Media Writing, and other courses.