Andrew C. Billings

Andrew C. Billings is a professor and the Ronald Reagan Chair of Broadcasting in the Department of Journalism and Creative Media at The University of Alabama. He is the current director of the sports communication program. His research primarily focuses on the study of Sport Communication. Billings received his PhD in Communication & Culture from Indiana University in 1999. He was the founding chair of both the Communication and Sport Division of the National Communication Association and the Sport Communication Interest Group of the International Communication Association. He has also chaired the Research Symposium for Broadcast Education Association and the Visiting Chair of Olympism at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His research often focuses on the intersection of sport, mass media, and how people interpret identity issues within sport when consuming sport content. He also focuses on elements surrounding spots contents, such as fantasy sport. Billings has won over 60 awards for his scholarship, including national and international awards from the National Communication Association, International Communication Association, Broadcast Education Association, and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and many book awards, which provides academic perspective to journalists on matters related to sport communication. Much of Billings' research focuses on various aspects of how American sports media covers and affects issues of gender, race, and identity. Two of his books, Olympic Media: Inside the Biggest Show on Television and Olympic Television: Broadcasting the biggest show on Earth analyze the production, content, and the effects of NBC's broadcast of the Olympic Games. In particular, he focuses on the topics of ethnicity, gender, and nationality, and how that is communicated to the public via the telecast. In 2009, Billings co-authored with Heather L. Hundley Examining Identity in Sports Media, focusing on how identity issues are communicated and shaped by sports media.