Jay Blumler (born 1924) is an American-born theorist of communication and media. He is now Emeritus Professor of Public Communication at the University of Leeds, and also Emeritus Professor of Journalism at the University of Maryland, having spent his early academic life largely in the UK.
He was a political science graduate of Antioch College, and a doctoral student from 1947 at the London School of Economics. He taught at Ruskin College, Oxford, before taking a position in Leeds in 1963, as Granada Television Research Fellow.
Television in Politics: Its Uses and Influences (1968) with Denis McQuailThe Uses of Mass Communications: Current Perspectives on Gratifications Research (1974) editor with Elihu KatzThe Challenge of Election Broadcasting. Report of an Enquiry by the Centre for Television Research, University of Leeds (1978) with Michael Gurevitch and Julian IvesLa télévision fait-elle l'élection?: Une analyse comparative, France, Grande-Bretagne, Belgique (1978) with Alison Ewbank and Claude GeertsCommunicating to Voters: Television in the First European Parliamentary Elections (1983) editor with Anthony D. FoxResearch on the Range and Quality of Broadcasting Services. A Report for the Committee on Financing the BBC.(HMSO 1986) with T. J. Nossiter, Malcolm BryninWired Cities: Shaping the Future of Communications (1987) editor withWilliam H. Dutton and Kenneth L. KramerBroadcasting Finance in Transition: A Comparative Handbook (1991) editor with T. J. NossiterThe Formation of Campaign Agendas: A Comparative Analysis of Party and Media Roles in Recent American and British Elections (1991) with Michael Gurevitch, Holli A Semetko, David H. WeaverComparatively Speaking: Communication and Culture across Space and Time (1992) editor with Jack M. McLeod, Karl Erik RosengrenTelevision and the Public Interest: Vulnerable Values in Western European Broadcasting (1992) editorThe Crisis of Public Communication (1995) with Michael Gurevitch 
