Kathryn Montgomery

Kathryn C. Montgomery, Ph.D. is the president and co-founder of the Center for Media Education (CME) and a member of staff at the Center for Social Media (CSM).

As president of the CME, Dr. Montgomery's goals included convincing legislators to define "responsible" tobacco advertising as not accessible to children. She also urged legislators to mandate responsible tobacco advertising, to require tobacco websites to be included in an "adult" category, and to require federal legislation to protect children from tobacco advertising online. She also worked to enact these same policies for alcohol.

Background
"Dr. Montgomery is an authoritative and influential voice for creating a quality media culture for children, their families and the community. Dr. Montgomery directs CME's Research and Public Education Initiative on New Media, Children and Youth. The Initiative is designed to stimulate research on new media, children and youth and serve as a clearinghouse on research and policy developments for academics, industry, the public and policymakers. Dr. Montgomery is a member of the White House Conference on Teenagers Task Force on 'Navigating the New Media Age.' She chairs the task force subcommittee to create a Web portal for teens that would include noncommercial, teenager-friendly resources on the Internet," a biographical note states. "Dr. Montgomery's research, writings, and testimony have helped frame the national public policy on critical media issues, including: online safeguards for children through the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA); a content-based ratings system for television programs; and the 1996 FCC rule requiring a minimum of three hours of educational/informational television programming for children. Dr. Montgomery's work on children and media has been featured nationally at conferences, in scholarly publications, and by the national media including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the news weeklies, and on national television and radio," a biographical note states. "Dr. Montgomery's book Target: Prime Time - Advocacy Groups and the Struggle over Entertainment Television (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989) is the definitive study of the relationship between advocacy groups and network television. Dr. Montgomery was a professor of film and television at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and California State University, Los Angeles. Dr. Montgomery received her Ph.D. in film and television from UCLA," a biographical note states. "Dr. Montgomery also has a strong background in the impact of media on health promotion. She has participated in numerous projects and professional conferences on the relationships between media and health, authored articles and reports, and lectured widely. Dr. Montgomery has served as a consultant to the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services. As Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Dr. Montgomery conducted research on media strategies by public health and environmental groups," a biographical note states.

Other SourceWatch Resources

 * Tobacco industry