Department: Journalism

Abstract: This study explores the news audiences’ perceptions of journalistic roles, in particular the contextualist role, through a U.S. nationally-representative survey. As members of the public lose trust and interest in the media, some outlets are turning to forms of reporting like constructive/solutions journalism to provide a greater context to news consumers. Our survey shows […]

Herndon, Keith; Norsworthy, Charlotte and Kor-Sins, Ryan (Grady MA students). (Forthcoming). Democrat or Republican? Using Political Stereotypes as a Bias Discussion Exercise. Journal of Leadership Education. Abstract: This innovative practice paper explains a classroom leadership exercise that asks students to identify anonymous people as either Democrats or Republicans based only on brief descriptions. Students are […]

Abstract: The creation of an effective learning environment is always a challenge, but when the environment is online and the learners are a diverse group of adults in a specialized content area, the challenges become more complex. This best practices study used the intersection of the importance of the learner, Knowles’ andragogy concepts, and the […]

Abstract: Despite the fact that corporations do not have consciences, in recent years the Supreme Court has been presented with the question of whether restrictions on the actions of a corporation abridge the First Amendment conscience rights of shareholders.  Although the Court in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission sidestepped that question, in another […]

Abstract: Journalists often accuse politicians of dodging questions. Truth-default theory (TDT) predicts that when journalists serve as de facto deception detectors, the audience will process the messaging through a cognitive sequence that lowers the perceived trustworthiness of the politician. Conversely, the public’s perception of the media as being generally hostile and biased in their reporting […]

Abstract: 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. By 2014, reports of verbal and physical attacks on journalists and news organizations by individuals calling them Lügenpresse, had again become a frequent feature of […]

As citizens’ trust in institutions has plummeted over the last four decades, so too has citizens’ trust in the news media. Citizens are capable of enhancing, even performing, the work of journalism, and journalists are capable of enhancing the work of citizens. When journalists and citizens work together on reporting projects, journalists’ trust in citizens’ […]

Abstract: This paper reports qualitative and quantitative data from a national online panel survey of Latinos (N=720) after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Participants reported in their closed-ended responses a level of distrust toward the news organizations that largely parallels national figures. In open-ended responses, Latinos cited cable news journalists most as trusted journalists, with […]

Abstract: People are often exposed to polarized viewpoints in web comment sections. Inspired by attribution theory and framing theory, this article tests the effects of comments that frame a politician or a journalist as triggering evasiveness in a media interview. We compare attributions ascribing deceptiveness to the politician versus external attributions implicating the media situation. […]

Abstract: In recent years, online misinformation designed to resemble news by adopting news design conventions has proven to be a powerful vehicle for deception and persuasion. In a 2 (prior warning: present/absent) x 2 (article type: false/true) eye-tracking experiment, news consumers (N=49) viewed four science news articles from unfamiliar sources, then rated each article for […]