Dr. Karin Assmann
About: Dr. Karin Assmann teaches video journalism, multimedia production, reporting and storytelling, as well as graduate courses on journalism and mass communication theory. She studies the sociology and business of news production as well as rural and local news consumption and production in the U.S. and in Germany.
Education
Ph.D., Journalism Studies, University of Maryland, Philip Merrill College of Journalism
M.Sc., History of Political Thought, London School of Economics and Political Science
B.S., School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Research Interests and Activities
Dr. Assmann studies news production with a focus on how journalists and news organizations respond to change. Her areas of interest include newsroom unionization, gender quotas and representation, as well as individual and institutional responses to physical and discursive attacks on reporters, their outlets and the news media in general. She also studies how rural communities define their information needs and the strategies they use to meet these needs. Assmann’s interest in local news deserts reaches across the Atlantic to her native Germany where she conducts research about local and regional media, as well as public broadcasting. She has presented her work at various regional, national and international conferences including the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s (AEJMC) national conference, the Southeast Colloquium and Midwinter conference, the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR), the Broadcast Educators Association (BEA), the International Communication Association (ICA), the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and the Future of Journalism Conference. She has authored and co-authored peer-reviewed articles published in Feminist Media Studies, ISOJ, Journalism, Journalism Practice, Media and Communication and the DGPuK Jahrbuch, as well as the SAGE Encyclopedia of Journalism.
Assmann has served as research chair for the AEJMC Newspaper and Online News Division’s Southeast Colloquium, as vice head and head of AEJMC’s Cultural and Critical Studies Division.
Graduate and undergraduate students are welcome in Assmann’s Qualitative Research Lab where they can collaborate with her and with each other on their research projects and theses. Dr. Assmann has mentored several undergraduate students whose work has been presented at the University of Georgia’s CURO Symposia and at AEJMC’s regional conferences. She has also co-authored studies with graduate students that have been accepted for presentation at AEJMC’s regional and national conferences.
Karin Assmann, served as head of AEJMC’s Cultural and Critical Studies Division; moderated two panels and the division’s Top Paper Research Session and served as discussant for the Community Journalism Interest […]
Read MoreKarin Assmann, recipient of a 2023-24 Sarah H. Moss Fellowship that will fund a six-week research stay in collaboration with researchers at the Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität in Munich, Germany. The Sarah H. Moss Fellowships, […]
Read MoreKarin Assmann, “String Quartet on the Titanic: Are journalists covering their own demise or rowing to safety?,” accepted for presentation at the 2023 Future of Journalism Conference (Cardiff University). Abstract: […]
Read MoreKarin Assmann (2023) “Rise of the Zombie papers: Infecting Germany’s local and regional public media ecosystem,” in Media and Communication 11(3) (in press) Abstract: Germany’s public broadcasters, along with local […]
Read MoreEckert, S. and Assmann, K. (2023) East and West German Journalists in Leadership: Perceptions of work conditions, norms and practices. DGPuk Yearbook. 1-11 DGPuk (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft) […]
Read MoreKarin Assmann will be discussant for the Community Journalism Interest Group at this year’s AEJMC Southeast Colloquium.
Read MoreKarin Assmann & Eckert, S. (Accepted, 2023) “Are women journalists in leadership changing work conditions and newsroom culture?” Journalism. Abstract: Using standpoint epistemology and critical mass theory this study analyzes […]
Read MoreKarin Assmann. “Whistleblowers and their faith in journalism” has been published (online first) in Journalism Practice and was featured in Mark Coddington and Seth Lewis’ column RQ1 and in the Nieman Lab newsletter. Abstract: […]
Read MoreKarin Assmann. “Whistleblowers and their faith in journalism,” Journalism Practice (forthcoming). Abstract: Reporters, to enact their role as watchdogs and their commitment to uncovering corporate or governmental wrongdoing, often must […]
Read MoreKarin Assman is an invited panelist for an AEJMC ICD panel entitled: “She said, ‘Enough!’ Women-led protests around the world from a communication perspective” on November 17. She’ll be talking about initiatives in […]
Read MoreAbstract: Fox News navigates Sean Hannity’s complicated status as a member of the news media by describing him as a political commentator and talk show host. His self-assigned role as media critic […]
Read MoreAbstract: Brand Studios have become ubiquitous in news outlets across the United States. Situated in news organizations with the attention of audiences that brands hope to reach, these in-house creative studios […]
Read MoreWilliam Newlin, a Double Dawg, presented the paper “From Liberal Bias to Fake News: Sean Hannity’s election-time media bashing from 2016 – 2020),” co-authored with Karin Assman, at the AEJMC […]
Read MorePanel proposal accepted for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) annual conference, August 2022.
Read MorePanel proposal accepted for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) annual conference, August 2022. Panelists: Alexander Pfeuffer, Ava Sirrah, Columbia University (PhD candidate).
Read MorePanelists: Florence Namasinga Selnes, Oslo Metropolitan University; Celeste Gonzáles de Bustamente and Jeannine E. Relly, Arizona State University; Kaitlin Miller, University of Alabama; Kalyani Chadha, Northwestern; Prashanth Bhat, Eastern Connecticut […]
Read MoreAbstract: This study analyzes Sean Hannity’s rhetoric about the news media before, during and after the three most recent presidential elections. We treat Hannity’s discourse as metajournalistic discourse (Carlson, 2016) that […]
Read MoreAbstract: When viewers tuned in to watch Oprah Winfrey’s interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex earlier this year, they celebrated Winfrey’s interview style on Twitter. All but crowning […]
Read MoreKarin Assmann and Stine Eckert presented their study “Women in editorial leadership: A West German Domain?” on September 24, 2021, in Magdeburg, Germany. Dr. Eckert was present and Dr. Assmann […]
Read MoreKarin Assmann presented “Understanding and building communication and information needs in rural Georgia” at the 2021 Engagement Scholarship Consortium (ESC) Annual Conference at Penn State (held virtually) on September 15, […]
Read MoreKarin Assman started her tenure as Vice Head of AEJMC’s Cultural and Critical Studies Division.
Read MoreThe 2021 Baskett Mosse Award for Faculty Development has been awarded to Karin Assmann, Georgia, for her proposed project, “‘AmeriCorps’ for Student Journalists in Georgia: A Program to Bring News Coverage to Rural […]
Read MoreAbstract: “News deserts’ are defined as communities with inadequate access to news sources (Abernathy, 2018; Stites, 2011). In an environment increasingly polarized, with social media platforms that support the spread […]
Read MoreAbstract: Using standpoint epistemology and critical mass theories this study examines outcomes of the 2012 ProQuote [ProQuota] initiative in Germany demanding at least 30% women in leadership per newsroom. In-depth […]
Read MoreKarin Assmann and Ev Andrews.(Grady MA student). “Communication rituals, alternative media regimes and enactments of participatory journalism in rural ‘news deserts’ in Georgia.” Accepted for presentation at AEJMC’s 2021 Midwinter […]
Read MoreAbstract: Using in-depth interviews conducted with 12 U.S. whistleblowers who contacted the press in the 1970s through the 2010s, this paper examines changing perceptions of the news media and journalists […]
Read MoreAbstract: This study explores the tension between management, journalists and their audience around audience engagement with a focus on the role of newsroom unionization. Ethnographic work in three U.S. newsrooms […]
Read MoreAbstract: The term Lügenpresse, ‘lying press’, was used by the German National Socialist Party before and during the Third Reich to discredit the news media and to undermine public trust. […]
Read MoreExperience
Dr. Assmann is the former U.S. correspondent for Spiegel television and has written, reported and produced for radio, broadcast and online publications before turning to academia. She has covered a wide range of beats and has won several awards for her reporting about the U.S. military. Her extensive professional experience supports both her teaching and her research; it takes her into newsrooms for ethnographic studies and has her interviewing journalists, editors and news directors about evolving norms and practices.
Teaching
Active learning is a natural extension of Dr. Assmann’s career as a professional journalist. She completed the University of Georgia’s Active Learning Summer Institute in June 2022 and embraces the philosophies of active and experiential learning in all of her classes.
Fellowships and Awards
- Sarah Moss Fellowship Award. Support for research conducted outside of the University of Georgia ($10,000), 2023-2024
- AEJMC’s Baskett Mosse Award for Faculty Development for proposed project, ‘AmeriCorps’for Student Journalists in Georgia: A Program to Bring News Coverage to Rural Communities; August 2021 ($1,000)
- Teaching Faculty Academy Fellow, 2021- 2022; University of Georgia
- Top Extended Abstract Award, Community Journalism Interest Group: “Communication rituals, alternative media regimes and enactments of participatory journalism in rural ‘news deserts’ in Georgia; August 2020
- Mary Ann Yodelis Smith Award for Feminist Scholarship for: “A quota for women in online newsroom leadership? Lessons from the ProQuote initiative in Germany;” Commission on the Status of Women, AEJMC 2019
- Kopenhaver Fellow; Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication; University of Florida; 2019
- Stevenson open research competition; top paper award (third place) for “ProQuote: A German woman journalists’ initiative to revolutionize newsroom leadership” International Communication Division, AEJMC 2018
