I conduct research in two main areas:
First, I focus my time on news (and media) literacy and ethics. My current work in this area focuses on using a variety of methods to investigate equitable media literacy practices. I am also looking at how and why journalists learn ethical behaviors, especially in relation to concepts of objectivity, bias, trust and truth telling as a result both the Fake News presidency and the rise in disinformation and misinformation sharing. This also includes my work on media texts serving as educational tools and the ethical practices involved. I am currently working on a collaborative project on the use of pornography to teach concepts of sustainability, and the ethics related to the media company’s corporate social responsibility’s connection to education and literacy.
I also study definitional and boundary work in journalism. Here I utilize metajournalistic discourse as a driving framework of my work, as well as the concepts of deviance and moral panic. I am passionately interested in understanding how deviance contributes to journalists autonomy, boundaries of the profession, and definitions of the field. Currently my work focuses on (1) positioning student journalists in relation to the boundaries of journalism and (2) illuminating deviant actors and objects impacts on journalism’s authority and definitional labor.
My work often emerges from areas of education, politics, sex media, and horror.
Use the linked boxes below to jump to a specific piece of my research you are looking for:
CURRENT PROJECTS
I’m currently looking at a number of different ideas, which may become projects for conference papers or published works. They include:
- Mapping Impactful Media Literacy Practices
- Flaunting Bunnies and Grinding Honeys: Finding Hef and Flynt’s places in the boundaries of journalism
- Student journalist codes of ethics
- Sexstainability: Understanding Pornhub’s education washing and the implications of CSR practice and ethics
