Patrick R. Johnson, Ph.D., MJE

Hi, I’m Patrick.
Nice to meet you.

Journalism professor. Newsroom and instructional coach. Scholar of care, critique, and possibility.

I believe journalism doesn’t just reflect the world; it teaches us how to see it. And how we teach journalism shapes how we practice it.

At the core of my work is a commitment to transforming journalism through education, not just in classrooms, but in newsrooms, professional cultures, and public discourse. I ask:
How can journalism education—wherever it happens—be a method for institutional accountability, ethical care, and democratic repair?

My research, teaching, and public scholarship operate at the intersection of journalism practice, pedagogy, and social critique. I study how journalism defines itself by what (and who) it excludes, and I develop frameworks to challenge those boundaries. Whether I’m designing a curriculum, co-creating with local journalists, or theorizing queer and restorative ethics, my goal is always the same: to use education as a mechanism for meaningful change in media institutions and the communities they serve.

Pedagogy and Professionalism

I approach journalism as something learned and lived, not just performed. My work asks what we train students and professionals not to be, and what gets silenced in the name of objectivity, neutrality, or tradition. I focus especially on those deemed “deviant” by journalism’s institutional norms, using those margins to interrogate how knowledge is policed and how professional identity is shaped.

This philosophy animates News Literate Journalism, my pedagogical and metacognitive model, which challenges journalists to reflect on their roles, recognize their institutional constraints, and build stronger relationships with the communities they serve. This model is implemented through curriculum, coaching, and practice, and it’s designed to be transformative across both classroom and newsroom settings.

Coaching and Collaborative Practice

Through my work with organizations like Trusting News, I partner with journalists across the U.S. to reimagine newsroom culture. We focus on transparency, listening, reflexivity, and trust, not as buzzwords, but as practices rooted in care and critical self-awareness.

I coach journalists to see their work as educational: every correction, comment thread, or reporting choice is a moment of teaching and learning. Journalism becomes more accountable when it becomes more reflective, and reflection requires time, structure, and support. That’s what I offer in my collaborative coaching: space to pause, to question, and to reimagine what journalism can be.

Ethics, Identity, and Institutional Change

I draw on queer theory, hauntology, and care ethics to expose the limits of traditional journalism values, and to build new ethical frameworks in their place. My concept of restorative queer ethics offers an alternative to objectivity and detachment, grounding journalism instead in advocacy, reflexivity, and responsibility.

This ethical lens informs my teaching, research, and mentorship, particularly in areas such as LGBTQ+ inclusion, graduate student advocacy, and mental health in academic and professional settings. I strive to create systems that foster complexity and prioritize grace, gratitude, and growth.

Public Scholarship and Interdisciplinary Voice

I believe scholarship should be useful, engaging, and public. My work lives across platforms—peer-reviewed journals, public media projects, classroom tools, and community partnerships—and across genres, from empirical research to reflective essays to cultural analysis.

My interdisciplinary approach draws from media studies, journalism, education, and cultural criticism. I write about media literacy, but also about the cultural texts that teach us how to read the world: slasher films, celebrity scandals, viral media moments, and more. These moments matter because they help us see journalism not as isolated reporting, but as part of a larger system of meaning-making.

This work reflects my commitment to making ideas accessible and actionable, whether I’m working with undergraduates, journalists, researchers, or the broader public. I don’t separate theory from practice; I see them as mutually generative.

My writing reflects my values: critical, accessible, imaginative, and rooted in care.

When I’m not being a teacher/scholar

In my free time, I probably can be found reading random works of narrative nonfiction, watching way too many horror films (or rewatching countless Disney or 90s/00s teen movies), being inundated with the news, making fun of and commenting about politics, consuming far too much pop culture on social media, getting way too involved in college football and basketball, and bouncing around and singing to whatever song ends up playing on my Apple Music (which usually is a healthy dose of today’s top hits, 90s/00s hits, grunge, classic rock, heavy metal, and show tunes). 

What I’m doing currently

Assistant Professor | Marquette University

Research Affiliate | Trusting News

Research Affiliate | Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Research Team | Mapping Impactful Media Literacy Practices Project

What I used to do

Iowa Experiences

Managing Editor | Journal of Communication Inquiry | School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Inaugural Easton Graduate Teaching Fellow | School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Graduate Instructor | School of Journalism and Mass Communication

Digital Studio Fellow | Digital Scholarship and Publishing Studio
(Summer 2022)

Research Assistant | School of Journalism and Mass Communication
(Summer 2021; Summer 2022)

Public Humanities Fellow | Obermann Center for Advanced Studies
(Summer 2021)

Additional Teaching Experiences

English and Media Teacher & Media Adviser | Antioch Community High School
(2013-2020)

Adjunct Professor of Journalism and Media Studies | Marquette University
(2013-2020)

Additional Relevant Professional Experiences

Instructor, Iowa Summer Journalism Workshop | Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication
(2023)

Ethics Research Intern | Storyfit: AI for the Entertainment Industry
(Winter 2020)

Director, Summer Journalism Workshop | Kettle Moraine Press Association
(2011-2020)

Instructor, Urban Journalism Workshop | Diederich College of Communication
(2011-2013)

Awards

Davis Ethics Outstanding Dissertation Award • 2024
Pennsylvania State University
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)
Media Ethics Division

Carl J. Nelson Memorial Research Award • 2024
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Iowa

AEJMC Promising Professor Award • 2023
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)
Mass Communication and Society Division

Newspaper and Online News Graduate Student Research Award ($1,000) • 2023
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)
Newspaper and Online News Division

John F. Murray Outstanding Doctoral Student – Research • 2023
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Iowa

Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award • 2023
University of Iowa

Michael Hoefges Graduate Student Research Award ($500) • 2023
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)
Law and Policy Division

Post-Comprehensive Research Fellowship • 2023
Graduate College
University of Iowa

Top Student Paper • Second Place Moeller Student Paper Competition • 2021
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)
Mass Communication and Society Division

John F. Murray Outstanding Doctoral Student – Research • 2022
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Iowa

Top Student Paper • 2021
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC)
LGBTQ Interest Group

Hugh Vollrath Ross Scholarship • 2021
Graduate College
University of Iowa

Outstanding Graduate Student • 2013
Diederich College of Communication
Marquette University

Education

Ph.D. | Mass Communication, May 2024
The University of Iowa, School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Advisor: Dr. Melissa Tully, Professor of Journalism

MA | Communication, May 2013
Marquette University, Diederich College of Communication
Thesis: The Impurity Truth: How Popular Media Taught Millennial Males to Get Laid and “Do It” as Early as Possible
Advisor: Dr. Bonnie Brennen, Professor Emerita and Nieman Professor of Journalism

BS/BA | Secondary Education and Journalism, June 2011
Marquette University, College of Education