Pickard was born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, and attended Quaker Valley High School and then Allegheny College.

"[citation needed] Before teaching at Penn, Pickard was an assistant professor in the Media, Culture, and Communication Department at New York University.

Pickard also designed and taught the inaugural Verklin media policy course at the University of Virginia.

The report documented the roots of the crisis, potential alternative models, and policy recommendations for implementing structural reform in the American media system.

The book provides an analysis of the shifting news media landscape and maps the ongoing debates about journalism's uncertain future.