PROVO — Alf Pratte, a Brigham Young University professor of journalism, has been named a member of the Institution of Democracy Project, a 40-member national commission to examine how freedom of the press works in a democracy and how to improve its health.
Pratte has been a reporter, administrative assistant in the Hawaii State Senate and director of extension services for the Marine Advisory Program of the sea Grant College at the University of Hawaii. He has taught news writing, advanced reporting, opinion writing, magazine writing, media history and graduate classes.
Pratte is the author of "Gods Within the Machine: A History of the American Society of Newspaper Editors." His research on the media has been published in several trade journals and magazines.