When I graduated with my bachelor's degree in 1990, I carried with me the lessons of my undergraduate professors concerning the importance of fair and balanced journalism; giving readers both sides of a story so the coverage could assist them in making up their own minds about issues of personal importance. After spending more than 20 years as a…

Given the enormous diversity that exists in our society today, the need intensifies for educators to create a transformative environment that fosters productive encounters with the differences that emerge in a diverse society. Nonetheless, limited attention has been devoted to generating a systematic understanding of how students engage with and…

The digital environment of journalism has transformed the business of gathering information (Van Der Haak, Parks, & Castells, 2012). This teacher-researcher case study explored the process in which students advance their knowledge within a self-directed university TV Broadcast Journalism course. Journalism is a process to develop a system of…

Like most young people, university students are adept in their use of communication technologies such as smartphones and apps. However, this technological savvy does not necessarily translate into news media literacy (NML), which "refers to the knowledge and motivations needed to identify and engage with journalism" (Maksl et al., 2015,…

This quantitative, correlational-predictive study applied standard multiple regression to determine if reflective-analytic cognitive style can predict media accuracy discernment in community college students recruited from two Pacific region colleges (N = 100). The Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFFT), and a Media…

This dissertation assesses the self-representation and representation of ten elite collegiate women athletes during the first year of the NCAA's new 'name, image and likeness' policies. Building on theories of representation, gender performance, self-presentation and intersectionality, this study explores how women athletes reproduce notions of…

The COVID-19 pandemic swept the world in a cascade of crises, impacting every industry and individual. This study sought to analyze the prevailing narratives of higher education news coverage during the initial crisis event of COVID-19, when colleges and universities around the world closed their doors and sent students home. Historically, higher…

Following experts' calls that information literacy interventions can inoculate against misleading political information, this study examines how students who have undergone an information literacy training evaluate political information one year after the classroom training. The intervention consisted of a one-semester information literacy course…

Drawing on a qualitative review of historical artifacts, the author explores the birth and rise of the American Association of College News Bureaus and its successive organizations. The author performs a historical study, interlacing an interpretive biographical lens and rhetorical theory. The study seeks to determine what formative events and…

This case study research explored options for improving trust between journalists and their communities within the boundaries of collegiate community journalism education. Data collected from students who completed a community journalism class, the instructor of that class, and journalism professionals who engaged with the class was analyzed using…

By engaging in an interdisciplinary examination of the democracy-education relationship, this humanistic inquiry will identify and explore the principles that define journalism educators' special obligation to do good work. My thesis is prefaced on the notion that determining the principles that guide what it means for educators to do good work in…

This study examined sports communications curricula at 30 accredited institutions. Using qualitative content analysis, research showed that many programs promote experiential learning opportunities in their curriculum. However, it is unclear how many hands-on opportunities are utilized with student media and other outlets. Further analysis of…

The disruptions brought by the Arab Spring revolutions in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region in 2010-2011 created a series of personal and professional challenges for those involved in higher education in journalism in the region. This research uses narrative inquiry to examine the impact revolution had on a group of educators in the MENA…

Focus on his biography and his performance in the media has long been the basis of interpretation of Bob Dylan's identity. This has resulted in the accepted critical theory of Dylan's identity as mercurial and lacking a central ipseity. However, as Michael Strachan argues, rock biography is an unstable genre because it treats its subjects as…

Technology has afforded journalists a myriad of new opportunities to promote and publish content online. This project provides an overview of many of the new practices that have become standard operating procedures for digital media news creation and examines how the heavy imprint of traditional media news values are not contextualized within the…