Wendy Swanberg writes the Free Press blog for this site. She is a journalism historian and longtime broadcast producer who writes about free press issues, past and present. She began working with Stephen Ward in 2009 as a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where the two collaborated to build the Center for Journalism Ethics.
Wendy’s main areas of research are First Amendment history, journalism in the Cold War era, and the tension between press freedom and national security. Before returning to graduate school she spent many years producing television for WMAQ-TV in Chicago and other outlets, serving on local land use commissions, and raising three sons.
She holds a BA from DePaul University and an MA from UW-Madison, and is a PhD candidate in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Presently, Wendy teaches technical communication at UW-Madison’s College of Engineering, and is in the process of starting an organic farming operation on 35 acres in the Town of Springdale, Wisconsin.