Ph.D. Profile – Brown James

Brown James is a third-year Ph.D. student and lecturer at Grady. Using primarily qualitative methods, his research focuses on the intersection of news media and the American political and legal systems. Brown also studies the interactions and relations between news media and the U.S. military.

Before coming to UGA, Brown served as a court coordinator for the Piedmont Judicial Circuit in Georgia, and afterwards was a deputy executive director for an education based non-profit organization. Brown has also served 9 years in the United States Coast Guard Reserve where he is a coxswain and tactical boat crewman. He has served in both the Carolinas and Mississippi, and he has been deployed twice overseas to Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Australia.

James earned a master’s degree in mass communication from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the The Citadel.

Following is a brief interview with Brown.

What made you decide to pursue your Ph.D.?

I love watching and reading the news, and I love talking to people about it. I heard they were paying people for it, so here I am.

Please provide a brief explanation of your dissertation topic and why it’s important to you.

My dissertation is a verbal and visual rhetorical analysis of cable news framing of the U.S. Supreme Court by examining cable news broadcasts following the release of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion. In short, I have always been drawn to cable news (my blood pressure is somehow fine) since I was a young boy watching it with my grandfather at the beach. As for the Court, whose significance and power need no explanation, Americans almost exclusively learn of what it says and does through news media. So, considering the influence over public opinion of the Court that news media has, it’s very important to me to see how the dramatic and overtly biased programming of cable news verbally and visually depicts the Court to the millions who watch.

What has been the highlight of your doctoral education so far?

The highlight of my doctoral career has been teaching my own classes and students in Reporting 1. I knew I wanted to pursue being a research professor in journalism and that the research side of things would always be interesting, but I didn’t know how much genuine fun and how fulfilling it would be to teach. My favorite lessons to impart to my students are the value of not being late and the seven P’s of Coach Graham (my students know what these are).

What advice would you offer to someone considering a Ph.D. program?

The most important advice I can give to anyone considering a PhD is to ensure that you truly want it (and know why), have self-discipline, and have endurance. If any one of those three is lacking, then don’t do it. I can assure you that all three are required.

What is a fun fact about yourself, your research field or other related fields?

I ate kangaroo meat while I was deployed to Australia in the summer of 2023. We grilled it up with Cajun seasoning and an absurd amount of butter. It tasted fine to me, but the Australians hate it. They feed it to their dogs, oddly enough.

Author: Lauren A. Pike, lauren.pike@uga.edu