Erik Barnouw (1908–2001) was a historian of radio and television broadcasting and a professor at Columbia University. He had a successful broadcasting career working for CBS and NBC and won the Peabody Award in 1944 for the documentary radio series Words at War. He was elected chairman of the Writer’s Guild of America in 1957 and also served on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Barnouw is the author of several books and a co-author (with Patricia Aufderheide, Richard M. Cohen, Thomas Frank, David Lieberman, Mark Crispin Miller, Gene Roberts, and Thomas Shatz) of Conglomerates and the Media (The New Press).