Daxton “Chip” Stewart
Professor and Assistant Provost for Research Compliance Texas Christian University
- Fort Worth TX
Dr. Stewart’s areas of expertise include media law and communication technology.
Media
Social
Biography
Dr. Stewart began his career as a sportswriter before becoming an attorney. He has served as the editor-in-chief of Dispute Resolution Magazine, a city editor and columnist at the Columbia Missourian, and practiced law in Texas. He was co-founding editor of Community Journalism, the online, peer-reviewed official journal of AEJMC’s Community Journalism Interest Group, where he now serves on the editorial board. He is also on the editorial boards of Journal of Media Law & Ethics and International Communication Research Journal.
Areas of Expertise
Accomplishments
Top Paper in the AEJMC Law & Policy Division
2025-01-06
A prestigious annual award recognizing the highest-scoring research paper(s) in a blind-reviewed competition focusing on media law, communication policy, and legal research.
Top Paper in the AEJMC Law & Policy Division
2024
Second Place Paper, National Freedom of Information Coalition FOI Research Competition
2023 & 2022
Top Paper, National Freedom of Information Coalition Research Paper Competition
2019 & 2021
First Place, Teaching Ideas Competition in the AEJMC Law & Policy Division
2019
First Place in the Teaching Ideas Contest
2014, 2017, 2019
Bob Schieffer College of Communication Award for Distinguished Achievement as a Teacher-Scholar
2018
Top Faculty Paper, AEJMC Law & Policy Division Research Paper Competition
2014
Nominated, Dean’s Research Award at TCU
2011 & 2016
Education
University of Missouri-Columbia
Ph.D.
Journalism
2009
University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law
LL.M.
Alternative Dispute Resolution
2007
University of Missouri-Columbia
M.A.
Journalism
2004
The University of Texas School of Law
J.D.
Law
1998
Southern Methodist University
B.A.
Journalism
1994
Southern Methodist University
B.A.
History
1994
Affiliations
- AEJMC : Law and Policy Division
- Communication Law & Policy : Associate Editor
- Texas Center for Community Journalism
- Kappa Tau Alpha : Faculty Advisor
- American Association of University Professors
Media Appearances
Hundreds of Texas Teachers Were Investigated for Posting About Charlie Kirk. Here's What Happened Next.
Texas Monthly print
2026-07-09
Daxton “Chip” Stewart, a Texas Christian University professor and First Amendment expert, said that the question at the heart of the Kirk cases is whether speech outside of the classroom may have affected lessons within it. “Posts about Charlie Kirk are undoubtedly a matter of public concern,” Stewart said. “That’s core First Amendment-protected speech. People should be able to comment about that kind of thing. So really, it comes down to, does that speech interfere with teachers’ [abilities] to do their jobs.” Stewart believes this standard is unfair. If a teacher spoke about Charlie Kirk in the classroom, it would be a different story, a “no-brainer,” he said. But in teachers’ private time, the state must prove that the speech is something outrageous for it to be punishable. (Ultimately, both Eagle Mountain–Saginaw and the TEA declined to take action against the educator.)
Bexar County's notorious records requester wants to prove that he's a journalist
Fort Worth Star-Telegram online
2026-04-03
Chip Stewart, a media law attorney and professor at Texas Christian University, said Brantley's argument likely hinges on whether he meets Texas law's definition of a journalist - including whether he earns a substantial portion of his income from the work.
Can Gov. Abbott really cut school funding over ICE walkouts? What the law says
Fort Worth Star-Telegram online
2026-02-18
Chip Stewart, a First Amendment expert and media law professor at TCU who has a child in Fort Worth ISD and shared the district’s guidance with the Star-Telegram, said the message was clear.
5 transparency experts say Texas AG Ken Paxton's suit over DA Garza security has merit
Austin American-Statesman online
2024-10-09
"It would be even better if Paxton and his office would enforce the laws in an even-handed manner against political friends and foes alike, so the public could have easier access to participating in our democratic process.”
— Daxton “Chip” Stewart, attorney and professor in the Bob Schieffer School of Communications at Texas Christian University
Election Deepfakes Prompt State Crackdowns—and First Amendment Concerns
The Wall Street Journal online
2024-10-05
Courts are generally wary of limits on political speech. With limited exceptions, people have a right to make up stuff about political candidates, said Daxton Stewart, a media law professor at Texas Christian University.
“California’s law and others like it are going to face an uphill battle when it comes to satisfying First Amendment concerns,” Stewart said.
‘Significant public interest’: Media experts defend KVPR's decision to name officer in Fresno police chief scandal
KVPR NPR online
2024-06-24
Non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs, are unusual in American journalism. Chip Stewart, who teaches media law and ethics at Texas Christian University, said NDAs between journalists and sources or subjects run counter to the basic rules of news reporting.
With Cameras Absent, US Public Tunes Out Of Trump Trial Coverage
Barron's online
2024-05-08
Chip Stewart, a media professor at Texas Christian University, says reports of Trump falling asleep in court provide an illuminating example of how the lack of cameras has deprived the public of the full story.
Nationwide review finds patchwork, ‘broken’ systems for resolving open records disputes
AP News online
2024-03-10
“That’s one of the real challenges with any of these laws is that even when they have enforcement tools built in, civil liability or criminal liability, that they are so rarely enforced,” said Chip Stewart, a media law professor at Texas Christian University.
Event Appearances
Trying Times: Media Freedom in the United States
2026 AEJMC Southeast Colloquium Tampa, FL
2026-03-14
Thunderdome Panel: The New Miller Test, Age Verification, and the Future of Online Speech Protection
2026 AEJMC Southeast Colloquium Tampa, FL
2026-03-14
Two Fronts, One Fight: Shared Governance and Freedom of Expression in Media Education
2026 AEJMC Southeast Colloquium Tampa, FL
2026-03-13
Virtual Reality, Soft Censorship, AI Propaganda, Self-Regulation
2026 AEJMC Southeast Colloquium Tampa, FL
2026-03-13
AI and Scholarly Publishing
AEJMC Elected Standing Committee on Publications Webinar
2025-10-21
Do Legally-Mandated Warning Labels Work? Assessing Credibility and Sharing of Synthetic Content on Social Media
2025 Annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication San Francisco, CA
2025-08-08
Laboratory of Autocracy: Texas’ escalating assault on First Amendment values in the Abbott/Patrick/Paxton years
Law & Policy Division at the 2025 annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication San Francisco, CA
2025-08-07
The First Amendment Takes on State Tech Laws: How Far Can the Government Go in Regulating Tech and AI?
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Conference San Francisco, CA
2025-08-06
Best Practices for Teaching Media Law During Tumultuous Times
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Conference San Francisco, CA
2025-08-06
The Internet, Social Media, and the Future of Discourse,
Day of Free Expression and Pluralism (Spark), hosted by the University of Denver Denver, CO
2025-04-07
The State of the First Amendment Professor: Joys, Challenges and How to Get By With Help From Your Colleagues
March 2024 | 2024 AEJMC Southeast Colloquium Lexington, KY
Workshop for Communication Law & Policy Special Issue on Media Law Education
August 2024 | Annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Law & Policy Division Philadelphia, PA
The Right to Lie with AI? First Amendment challenges for state efforts to curb false political speech using deepfakes and synthetic media
August 2024 | Annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Law & Policy Division Philadelphia, PA
Opening the Floodgates: Assessing and Implementing Affirmative Disclosure
October 2023 | 2023 National Freedom of Information Coalition Summit Louisville, KY
Too Many Cases, Too Little Support: How the debate over what instructors teach in Media Law courses is a symptom of institutional changes in mass communication education
August 2023 | Annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Washington, DC
Research Grants
Adviser Grant
Kappa Tau Alpha
2024
Free Inquiry Grant
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
2024
Articles
Using Trust & Safety Tycoon In The Classroom
Techdirt.Chip Stewart
2026-08-04
Early in the media law and ethics course I teach, as I shift gears from the ethics section to the law and core free speech issues, I try to build a foundation by introducing the many kinds of legal issues they may face as communicators. By this time, we have already discussed social media platforms and the terms and conditions to which they have agreed as users, and what this means for them as future media professionals and citizens.
Let's Not Be Dumb: Government Transparency, Public Records Laws, and" Smart City" Technologies
University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy2023
As the tools to automate our lives become more commonplace, so do the concerns about their use and the data they collect. State and local governments in the United States are increasingly turning to smart city technologies for everything from law enforcement and traffic management to public health monitoring and wastewater testing. Yet often, citizens are left in the dark about the ways in which their elected officials are researching, purchasing, and implementing these technologies. Public records laws represent one mechanism to help improve the public's understanding of smart city technology and its uses in their communities. But not all public records laws are created equal. We argue that public records laws must be updated to ensure the definition of the term" public records" includes the types of records created by these technologies, including audio, video, and large datasets.
Rise of the copyleft trolls: When photographers sue after creative commons licenses go awry
Ohio State Technology Law Journal2022
A photographer posts photographs on Flickr or Wikipedia using the" Creative Commons" tag, a signal to Internet users that these can typically be reused online without permission as long as they include proper attribution.
The photographer searches the web for use of their photos or hires a company such as Copypants or Pixsy to do the search for them, and they ferret out any uses that omit or otherwise mess up the attribution. This is an easy mistake for a less-savvy Internet user, particularly when the attribution requires full hyperlinks to the original and a hyperlink to the license itself, burdening any ability to use it as a thumbnail. Hits are investigated for potential noncompliance, and demand letters are sent to each user that doesn't follow the license requirements perfectly.
Ghosted by Government: Why Government Entities Should be Required to Respond to Public Records Requests
Journal of Civic Information2021
Public records laws across the United States operate under the presumption that citizens should have access to government records, but obtaining this information is not always a simple undertaking. Although state public records laws vary, only a few establish a requirement that government entities acknowledge the existence of a request. And while some state laws mandate a time limit within which entities are supposed to produce records or issue a denial, those limits vary considerably from the specific three business days to the vague requirement of promptness. We analyzed these requirements in the 50 states and recommend policy changes that would hold government entities accountable to requestors and create a more level playing field for citizens seeking public records that should presumptively be open.
Freedom of speech and press in Muslim-majority countries
International Journal of Communication2021
This article examines the constitutions of 47 Muslim-majority countries and the Palestinian territories to compare the inclusion of free speech and free press guarantees, as well as the presence of Islam as the official state religion, to the actual existence of these freedoms in these countries, using a scale based on rankings developed by Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House. First, the findings suggest that the inclusion of Islam as a state religion in a country’s constitution does not necessarily lead to exclusion of freedom of speech and press in the constitutions of Muslim-majority countries. Second, inclusion of Islam as a state religion in the constitutions does make a significant difference when it comes to actual freedom in Muslim-majority countries, based on the ranking scale developed by the authors.
Secrecy Inc.: How Governments Use Trade Secrets, Purported Competitive Harm and Third-Party Interventions to Privatize Public Records
Journal of Civic Information2019
As governments engage in public-private partnerships, they have devised ways to shield the public’s business from the traditional level scrutiny offered by citizens and journalists, watchdogs of the public trust. The authors propose rethinking public oversight of private vendors doing government business. First, the authors explore the historical and legal background of open records laws. This core purpose is undermined by overly broad interpretations of trade secrets and competitive harm exceptions, a trend exacerbated by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 2019 ruling. The authors demonstrate why public-private collusion to sabotage transparency demands a reinvigorated approach to the quasi-government body doctrine, which has been sharply limited for decades. The authors conclude with recommendations on reversing the trend.
