Faculty & Staff
David M. Snyder
Adjunct Professor
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BIO
David M. Snyder teaches graduate courses in Digital Law and Ethics, Mass Media Law Seminar, News Coverage of Public Life and undergraduate courses in History and Principles of Communications Law, Public Affairs Reporting, Senior Seminar, Research Methods, News Editing and Writing for Mass Media. He was a staff writer/beat reporter for the Clearwater Sun and St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times (1975-79). He also served 34 years (1967-2001) in the Naval Reserve as a Navy journalist NCO and public affairs officer, retiring at the rank of Captain (O-6). Among assignments around the world, he served as U.S. Navy spokesman for Peacekeeping Forces in Beirut, Lebanon, in the months following the terrorist attacks on U.S. forces there. Licensed to practice law in New York, Florida and some federal courts since 1983, Snyder has helped consumers, taxpayers, and the media access information and protected their right to publish it, first as a law clerk in The New York Times Co. legal department, then an associate or partner in major law firms and in solo practice since 1995. Snyder received a B.A. in English from the University of South Florida (Tampa), where he was managing editor of The Oracle and won a Distinguished Service Award from the Department of Mass Communications. He received a Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.), summa cum laude, and graduated first in his class from Stetson University College of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Stetson Law Review. Among his publications, Rediscovering Florida’s Common Law Defenses to Libel and Slander, co-authored with George K. Rahdert and published in the Stetson Law Review, has been cited by the Florida Supreme Court, among others, as a foundational work on defamation defense in Florida.