Charles Siepmann (1899–1985) was a British-born media scholar and policy advocate who spent much of his career in the United States where he was a professor at New York University's graduate communication program for over two decades.

[1] Siepmann was instrumental in drafting the FCC document "Public Service Responsibility of Broadcast Licensees", which became known as the "Blue Book" for its distinctive colour.

Though he was an academic, Siepmann remained an advocate for the democratic potentials of radio and television and was "overtly political and engaged with media policy interventions" during his career.

While broadcasters were vehemently opposed to the book's findings, The New York Times stated that it was ''required reading for all interested in the future development of one of the country's major media for mass communications".

[2] Most controversial was the book's advocation that FCC mandates would require that "broadcasters devote a certain amount of time to local, non-profit, and experimental programming while also cutting down on 'excessive advertising'".

[1] Radio, Television, and Society was the most academic of Siepmann's major works and "focused on questions about the theories, laws, policies, and practices underlying freedom of speech, and its relationship to broadcasting".