Areas of academic specialization: comparative media law and ethics; international communication
Before joining The University of Iowa, Leo Eko was an Associate Professor of Journalism and Mass Media Law at the University of Maine. He has served as a journalist and producer at the African Broadcasting Union (URTNA) in Nairobi, Kenya, and at Cameroon Radio and Television Corporation. Professor Eko has produced several video documentaries on African topics. Three of them won honorable mention at festivals in Germany and Canada and are part of the holdings of several American and Canadian university libraries. His research has been published in Communication Law and Policy (Journal of the Law and Policy Division of AEJMC), Communications and the Law, The International Journal of Communication Law and Policy, Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review, The Journal of Black Studies, Journal of Third World Studies, the Journal for Journalism in Southern Africa (Ecquid Novi), the Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications, the Encyclopedia of Radio, and several book chapters. Prof. Eko teaches courses in Media Law and Ethics, Comparative Communication and Video Production.
- Research & Publications
- Video Production/Documentaries
- North American Environmental Journalism Project (VITAL)
Book
Eko, L (2012). New Media, Old Regimes: Case Studies in Comparative Communication Law and Policy. Lanham, MD.: Lexington Books. https://rowman.com/ISBN/978-0-7391-6789-2
Articles (Refereed)
Eko, L. Kumar, A., & Yao, Q. (2012) To Google or Not to Google: The Google Digital Books Initiative and the Exceptionalist Intellectual Property Law Regimes of the United States and France. Journal of Internet Law, 15 (7), 12-30
Eko, L. Kumar, A., & Yao, Q. (2011) Google This: The Great Firewall of China, The IT Wheel of India, Google, Inc., and Internet Regulation. Journal of Internet Law, 15 (3), 3-14
Eko, L. (2010) “American Exceptionalism, The French Exception, Intellectual Property Law and Peer-to Peer File sharing on the Internet.” The John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law, 10 (1), pp. 95-153
Eko, L. (2010) “The Art of Criticism: How African Cartoons Discursively Constructed African Media Realities in the Post-Cold War Era.” Critical African Studies 4 (1) (University of Edinburgh)
Eko, L. (2010) “New Technologies, Ancient Archetypes: The Boston Globe’s Discursive Construction of Internet Connectivity in Africa.” Howard Journal of Communications 21(2), 182-198
Eko, L. (2009) Suffer the Virtual Little Children: The European Union, the United States, and International Regulation of Online Child Pornography. Journal of Media Law and Ethics 1 (1/2) 107-149
Eko, L. & Berkowitz, D. (2009) “Le Monde, French Secular Republicanism and the Mohammad Cartoons Affair: Journalistic “Re-presentation” of the Sacred Right to Offend.” The International Communication Gazette, 47 (3) 181-202
Eko, L. (2007) It's a Political Jungle Out There: How Four African Newspaper Cartoons Dehumanized and "Deterritorialized" African Political Leaders in the Post-Cold War Era, International Communication Gazette, 69 (3), 219-238
Berkowitz, D. & Eko, L. (2007) “Blasphemy As Sacred Rite/Right: ‘The Mohammed Cartoons Affair’ and Maintenance of Journalistic Ideology.” Journalism Studies. 8 (5), 779-797(19)
Eko, L. (2006) New Media, Old Regimes: The Historical and Ideological Foundations of French & American Regulation of Bias-motivated Speech and Expression on the Internet. Loyola International & Comparative Law Review, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 69-127
Eko, L. & Tolstikova, N. (2005) The United States, the Russian Federation, and International Electronic Signature Policy. International Journal of Law and Policy. Issue 10, Online Journal of Yale University, the University of Münster, Oxford University, and Warwick University. Available at www.digital-law.net/IJCLP/
Eko, L. (2005) Beasts of No Nation: Re-presentation of African Presidents in the Post-Cold War African Satirical Press. International Journal of Comic Art (Temple University) 7 (1) Spring/Summer
Eko, L. (2003) The English-Language Press and the ‘Anglophone Problem’ In Cameroon: Group identity, Culture, and the Politics of Nostalgia. Journal of Third World Studies
Eko, L. (2002) Bombs and bombast in the NATO/Yugoslav War of 1999: the attack on Radio Television Serbia and the Laws of War. Communications and the Law, 24 (3), 1-45.
Eko, L. (2001) Many Spiders, one World Wide Web: Towards a typology of Internet Regulation. Communication Law and Policy, 6, 445-484.
Eko, L. (2000) Public Broadcasting in a changing regulatory environment: The case of Africa. Ecquid Novi, South African Journal for Journalism Research, 21, 82-97.
Book Chapters (invited)
Eko, L. (2006) Life in the Margins of Globalization: Media Liberalization, Commercialization and hegemony in Africa. In Lee Artz & Yahya Kamalimpour (eds)., The Media Globe: Trends in International Mass Media, pp 1-20. Albany: SUNY Press
Eko, L. (2004) Internet Connectivity and Development in Africa: Look before you “leapfrog!” In J. M. Mbaku and S.C. Saxena (Eds.). Africa at the Crossroads. Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press (pp. 211–231)
Eko. L. (2004) Hear all evil, see all evil, rail against all evil: Le Messager and the “Journalism of Resistance” in Cameroon. In Joseph Takougang & John Mukum Mbaku (Eds.). The Challenge of Leadership in Africa: Cameroon Under Paul Biya. Cresskill, N.J: Africa World Press (pp. 123-151)
Eko, L. (2003) Between globalization and democratization: Governmental Public Broadcasting in Africa. In Michael McCauley, Lee Artz, DeeDee Halleck & Eric Peterson (Eds.). Public Broadcasting in the Public Interest. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe (pp.175-191)
Eko, L. (2003) Globalization, Political liberalization, Cultural Hegemony and the Mass Media in Africa. In Lee Artz (Ed.). Globalization and Corporate Media Hegemony. New York: SUNY Press ( pp.195-211)
Book Reviews
Eko, Lyombe (2006) Regulated self-regulation as a form of modern government. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 30, 378-382.
Encyclopedia Entries (invited)
Eko, L. (2008) Internet Law and Policy. In International Encyclopedia of Communication, Wolfgang Donsbach (ed.). Malden, MA.: Blackwell
Eko, L. (2008) Communication Law and Policy in Africa. In International Encyclopedia of Communication, Wolfgang Donsbach (ed.). Malden, MA.: Blackwell
Eko, L. (2003) Freedom of the Press in Africa, Encyclopedia of International Media and Communications: Donald Johnston, (ed.) Elsevier Science
Eko, L. (2003) Africa No. One Encyclopedia of Radio. Christopher H. Sterling & Michael Keith (eds.). Chicago: Fitzroy Dearbon
Eko, L. (2003) Radio and Emergencies. Encyclopedia of Radio Christopher H. Sterling & Michael Keith (eds.). Chicago: Fitzroy Dearbon
Eko, L. (2003) World Radiocommunication Conferences (ITU). Encyclopedia of Radio Christopher H. Sterling & Michael Keith (eds.). Chicago: Fitzroy Dearbon
Refereed Conference Presentations (selected)
Eko, L. “To Digitize or Not to Digitize: The Google Digital Books Universal Library Initiative and the Exceptionalist Intellectual Property Law Regimes of the United States and France." (Paper presented at the Communication Law and Policy Division during the Annual Conference of the International Communication Association, Phoenix, AZ, May 2012)
Eko, L “Governmental Instrumentalization and Civil-Society Counter-Instrumentalization of the Internet and the Social Media during the Arab Spring in North Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Media Law and Policy Contexts.” (Paper Presented at the Communication Law Section of the Annual conference of the International Association of Media and Communication Research, Durban, South Africa, July 2012)
Eko, L. "From development communication to Internet connectivity: Milestones in United Nations formulation and transfer of communication policy to Africa (1958-2010)." Accepted for Presentation by the AEJMC International Communication Division for presentation at the AEJMC annual Conference, St. Louis, Mo., August 2011
Eko, L. The French Exception, American Exceptionalism, Governmental Policy and Technological Innovation: The Case of the Minitel and the Internet. Paper Presented at the annual Conference of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), Istanbul, Turkey, July 2011
Eko, L. "American Exceptionalism, the French Exception, and the Clash between Intellectual Property Law and Freedom of Expression: The case of Trademark Parody and 'Gripe' Websites on the Internet" (paper accepted by the ICA Communication Law and Policy Division for presentation at the Annual Conference. Boston, MA., May 2011)
Eko, L. “The Art of Criticism: How African Cartoons Discursively Constructed African Media Realities in the Post-Cold War Era.” Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Convention (AEJMC), Denver, CO, August, 2010 (Winner, Outstanding Poster, International Communication Division)
Eko, L. “Comparative Communication Policy Research in Africa.” Panel presentation at the 60th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) Singapore, June 2010
Eko, L. “American Exceptionalism, The French Exception, Intellectual Property Law and Peer-to-Peer file-sharing on the Internet.” Paper presented at the 60th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) Singapore, June 2010
Eko, L. “The United Nations and the Mohammed Cartoons Affair: Creating a Global “Respect for Religion Exception” Under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Paper presented at the annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) Chicago, IL. June 2009
Eko, L. “American Exceptionalism, the French Exception and Harmonization of International Intellectual Property Law.” Paper presented at the annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Boston, MA, August 2009
Eko, L. “Advertising Parody, Religion, and the Law of Defamation in the United States and France.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Chicago, IL., August 2008
Eko, L. “To Punish or Not to Punish Blasphemy; that is Not Out of the Question: The Mohammed Cartoons Controversy and Free Speech in Denmark and France.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association (ICA) Montreal, Canada, May 2008
Eko, L. “Mohammed Cartoons Affair, The United Nations and Respect for Religion." Paper presented at the Law Section, annual Conference of the International Association for Mass Communication Research (IAMCR), Stockholm, Sweden, July 2008
Eko, L. & Berkowitz, D. “Le Monde, French Secular Republicanism and the Mohammad Cartoons Affair: Journalistic “Re-presentation” of the Sacred Right to Offend.”Paper presented at the International Division, Annual Conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), San Francisco, CA, August 2007
Eko, L. International and Comparative Perspectives to Media Law. Panelist, 89th annual meeting of the International Communication Association, San Francisco, CA, May 2007
Eko, L. “Interest Groups and Internet Content Regulation in the United States and France: One Country’s Hate Speech is Another’s Free Speech.” (2nd Place Paper Competition Winner) Broadcast Education Association 2006 Annual Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada. April 2006
Eko, L. New Media, Old Mania: Regulation of Online Child Pornography Under European Union and American Law. Presented at the 56th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), Dresden, Germany. June 2006
Eko, L., Kumar, A. & Jie L “One World Wide Web, Three Monitoring Schemes: A Comparative Analysis of the Internet Surveillance Systems of the United States, Russia and China.” Paper presented the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Association (AEJMC) San Antonio, TX, August 2005
Eko, L. “The Text is the Vortex: Three African Newspaper Cartoon "Re-Presentations" of President, Press and International Lending Institutions in the Post-Cold War era.” Paper presented the annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Association (AEJMC), Toronto, Ontario, August 2004
Eko, L. “Regulation of Online Child Pornography in the United Sates and France.” Paper presented at the 54th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), New Orleans, LA, June 2004
Creative Production (Television Documentary)
Elephant-People: An African Secret Society and Globalization
Languages: English and French. 2008. A documentary about the Bakweri “Mahlé” (or Malley or Mallé) a secret society in Cameroon, West Africa, whose totem is the African elephant (Equeka njoku).The Mahlé society is grounded on the African philosophical concept of transilience whereby human beings are believed to have animal attributes and even doubles. The Mahlé is the most enduring aspect of the Whakpe culture. It survived 125 years of colonial and missionary attempts to stamp it out as heathen. The documentary focuses on role of the secret society as a symbol of how the Bakweri strive a balance between their culture, Christianity, and the influence of modernity. Screened at Le Musée de L’Homme, Paris, France as part of the ethnographic series, Les Mecredis du Film Ethnographique: L’Autre et Le Sacre (The Sacred and the Other)(2008). Also screened at the Africa World Documentary Film Festival, University of Missouri, St. Louis (October 2007).
Kip Keeps Kids. URTNA Programme Exchange Center, Nairobi, Kenya; producer/director: L.Eko. Camera: Peter Karanja, Boniface Mutwiwa. Technical Director: Ben Kpossilandé, Assts. Pius Ndirango, Karanja Kimwere. Translator, Josph arap Boit. Languages: English & French. Honorary Mention (Prix Futura, Sender Fries Berlin, 1993). Documentary on Kipchoge Keino African Olympian who won gold and silver medals at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic games and the 1972 Munich Olympic games. Kip Keino and his wife, Phyllis, have dedicated their life to one cause–sheltering and protecting abandoned children.
Portrait of an Artist : Elimo Njau, the Antelope-man / URTNA Programme Exchange Center, Nairobi, Kenya ; Camera: Peter Karanja, Technical Director: Ben Kpossilandé, Assts. Pius Ndirango, producer/director: Lyombe Eko (1992). Languages: English and French. Honorary Mention (Vues d’Afrique: Journées du cinema Africain, 1993). A portrait of East Africa's best-known artist. The video seeks to illustrate Elimo Njau's role as artist in enabling Africans to return to their ancestral culture. "The African views life as a proverb whose meaning lies in an unraveling of its symbols.
Portrait of an Artist : Wasp at Work / URTNA Programme Exchange Center, Nairobi, Kenya; Camera: Peter Karanja, Technical Director: Assts. Pius Ndirango, producer/director: Lyombe Eko (1993). Languages: English and French. Honorary Mention (Vues d’Afrique: Journées du cinema Africain, 1993). Documentary featuring Kenyan artist and educator, Elizabeth-Orchardson Mazrui whose work comments on the contradictory attitude of African society towards its women.
The OAU at 30 / OAU/URTNA Programme Exchange Center, Nairobi, Kenya. Camera: Peter Karanja; Technical Director: Ben Kpossilandé, Pius Ndirango, producer/director: Lyombe Eko (1993). Languages: English, French, Arabic & Portuguese. Survey of African history and politics to independence. The creation of the Organization of African Unity in 1962 has been the motor of African liberation from colonialism. However, the OAU did not become the motor of the African economic development. The signing in 1991, of the treaty establishing the African Economic Community and the African Union is a step in the right direction. Program contains thirtieth anniversary celebrations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Cairo, Egypt.
Spot Light on Tunis (Pleins Feux sur Tunis): The First Afro-Arab Trade Fair. Tunis, Tunisia (October 22-31, 1993). OAU/URTNA. Camera: Peter Karanja; Technical Director: Ben Kpossilandé, Pius Ndirango, producer/director: Lyombe Eko (1993). Languages: English & French, Arabic & Portuguese. Documentary on the various aspects of the First Afro-Arab Trade Fair that was sponsored by the Organization of African Unity and the Arab League as part of Afro-Arab cooperation. The trade fair that took place at the Foire Internationale de Tunis, in Le Kram Tunisia. The documentary features the opening ceremony led by Tunisian President, Zine El Abidine BEN ALI, as well as a cross section of exhibits and exhibitors from the African and Arab worlds.
6th All Africa Trade Fair: Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. OAU/URTNA. Camera: Peter Karanja; Technical Director: Ben Kpossilandé, Pius Ndirango, producer/director: Lyombe Eko (1993). Languages: English & French, Arabic Portuguese. Documentary on the 6th All Africa Trade Fair sponsored by the Organization of African Unity in 1993. It features an opening ceremony and speech by President Robert Mugabe, as well as interviews with organizers and exhibitors from across the African continent.
Living With a Time Bomb: AIDS (1991). URTNA Programme Exchange Center, Nairobi, Kenya; producer/director: Camera: Peter Karanja, Technical Director: Ben Kpossilandé, Assts. Pius Ndirango, Gabriel Bagui; Producer/Director: Lyombe Eko (1990). One of the first African documentaries featuring African AIDS patients. It presents the faces of some of the early victims of AIDS, and explores the impact of the disease on their families.
Sabina’s Encounter (Freelance Screen Play, 1990)
Co-wrote screen-play for “Sabina’s Encounter” (1990), a movie about an African woman’s struggles with physical abuse and her discovery of faith.