Amy Jo Coffey
Dr. Coffey joined the School of Journalism & Media as its director in 2024. Her research specialization is media management and economics, which explores the business side of the media industry. Coffey’s published work has examined media markets and ownership, strategic competition, and linguistic market segmentation. Her expertise extends to media/audience analytics and measurement; audience behavior and preferences; and cultural sensitivity, relevance, and representation. She has also studied the efficacy of new media spaces, including virtual immersive environments.
Coffey’s work has been published in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, International Journal on Media Management, Journal of Media Business Studies, Journal of Advertising Research, Communication Law and Policy, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Howard Journal of Communications, and Educational Technology Research and Development, among other journals. She is co-author of the award-winning textbook, Media Analytics: Understanding Media, Audiences, and Consumers in the 21st Century (Routledge, 2023). Coffey serves on various editorial boards and presents at conferences around the globe. She was named to the U.S. Fulbright Specialist roster and was a visiting professor and researcher at the Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain.
Coffey has held multiple leadership roles in service of the field, including chair of the Elected Standing Committee on Research for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), where she was also on its Board of Directors and served as head of the Media Management, Economics, and Entrepreneurship Division. Prior to her arrival at the University of Tennessee, Coffey spent 18 years on faculty at the University of Florida, where she won numerous awards for teaching, research, and service. Prior to earning her doctorate, she was a visiting lecturer at Berry College in Rome, Georgia. A former broadcast journalist, Coffey has held multiple newsroom roles in radio and television, including editorial and production positions at CNN (Atlanta) and reporting, assignment editing, and production roles in Ohio, Tennessee, and Georgia.
Education
Ph.D., Mass Communication, University of Georgia
M.A., Journalism, The Ohio State University
B.A., Biology, Political Science, Saint Olaf College
Research Interests
Media management and economics
Media markets and ownership, strategic competition
Audience behavior and preferences
Media/audience analytics
Newsroom representation