The visuals of a changing newsroom: Analyzing local coverage of the midterm election in Georgia

Andrea Hudson and Matt Binford (Ph.D. Candidate) (2023). The visuals of a changing newsroom: Analyzing local coverage of the midterm election in Georgia. Accepted for presentation to the Visual Communication Division of the 2023 AEJMC Southeast Colloquium, Murfreesboro.

Abstract:This study looks at local newspaper coverage in Georgia to study the visual content presented on front pages about the 2022 midterm elections. Preliminary results show that local newspapers relied heavily on wire photos and consistent visual frames surrounding election security. Data also pointed to these images being created by predominantly white men despite the diversity present in the candidates and the state.

Ireland Hayes (Undergraduate Journalism major and Karin Assmann's CURO student) successfully submitted her work in progress to AEJMC's Community Journalism Division for presentation at this year's Southeast Colloquium. Her project "Black Holes of Information: The State of Local News in Southeast Georgia" is a case study of a rural Southeast Georgia community located between the Jacksonville, FL and Brunswick, GA designated media areas (DMA). She aims to quantify the dearth in news coverage in this area and to understand how members of this rural community define their specific information needs, if they think those needs are currently being met and how they fill these real and perceived information holes.