Patrick R. Johnson, Ph.D., MJE

Journalism Professor | Lover of horror, ethics, villains, and media | A "Prince of News" | Searching for the Second Star

Publications

If you want to download an article, click the title hyperlink on this page. The DOI numbers are linked to the direct page for the article.

Books

Johnson, P. R., & Trifiro, B. M. (under contract, 2027). Journalism, media, and communication pedagogy. Palgrave.

Cato, M. & Johnson, P. R. (under contract, 2027). Engaged Learning in Action: High-Impact Practices Across Contexts (Eds). Rowan and Littlefield.

Milhailidis, P., Johnson, P. R., Foster, B., Burth, S., Ramasubramanian, S., & Tully, M. (2025). Equitable media literacies: Pedagogies and practices for healthy civic futures. Routledge.

Refereed Journal Articles

Johnson, P. R. (accepted). Press law literacy as a news literate behavior of journalists. Communication Law & Policy, 0(0).

Johnson, P. R. (2025). What journalists say what news literacy is. Journalism Studies, 0(0), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2025.2600428.

Johnson, P. R. (2025). Creating a News Literate Journalism: A metacognitive model for journalism practice. News Research Journal, 0(0), 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1177/30497841251396584.

Johnson, P. R. (2025). The weight of the rainbow: LGBTQ journalists’ navigation of wellness and identity in digital news ecosystems. Digital Journalism, 0(0), 1-20. https://doi/10.1080/21670811.2025.2573080.

Johnson, P. R. (2025). Revisiting the (queer) ghosts of journalism’s past. Journal of Media Ethics, 0(0), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2025.2566127.

Johnson, P. R., Gran, E., & Cohn, S. (2025). Reflecting, regulating, adapting: Metacognition’s role in journalism practices. Journalism Studies, 26(11), 1376-1397. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2025.2518457.

Mihailidis, P., Foster, B., Burth, S., Ramasubramanian, S., Tully, M. & Johnson, P. R. (2025). Centering relation in media literacy practice. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 17(1), 134-149. https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2025-17-1-9.

Johnson, P. R. (2024). Defining sexstainability. Porn Studies, 0(0), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1080/23268743.2024.2393640.

Johnson, P. R., Tully, M., Foster, B., Burth, S., Riewestahl, E., Mihailidis, P., & Ramasubramanian, S. (2024). Developing a framework for equitable media literacy practice: Voices from the field. Communication, Culture and Critique, 17(4), 318-325. https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcae023.

Burth, S., Riewestahl, E., Ramasubramanian, S., Foster, B., Johnson, P. R., Mihailidis, P., & Tully, M. (2024). Mapping Media Literacy Impact in the U.S.: A Review of Literature and Call for Equity. Annals of the International Communication Association, 48(4), 336-357. https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2024.2354357.

Foster, B., Mihailidis, P., Johnson, P. R., Burth, S., Tully, M., Ramasubramanian, S., & Riewestahl, E. (2024). Designing Equitable Media Literacy Interventions for Critical Youth Agency. Global Studies of Childhood, 14(4), 462-476. https://doi.org/10.1177/20436106231208445.

Johnson, P. R. (2024). A case of claims and Facts: Automated fact-checking the future of journalism’s authority. Digital Journalism, 12(10), 1461-1484. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2023.2174564.

Robinson, S., & Johnson, P. (2024). Rectifying harm through care-based practices: How journalists contend with disengaged communities’ distrust. Journalism Studies, 25(1), 99–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2023.2289889.

Johnson, P. (2023). Journalistic champs and pornographic chums: Hefner’s and Flynt’s obituaries and the boundaries of journalism. Journal of Magazine Media, 24(1-2), 60-82. https://doi.org/10.1353/jmm.2023.a934629.

Johnson, P. R. (2023). It’s (not) in the syllabus: Contradiction, construction, and taxonomic qualities of ethics in JMC syllabi. Teaching Journalism and Mass Communication, 13(2), 12-21.

Johnson, P. R. (2023). A snake in the grass: Adapting journalistic truth to the silver screen. Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 40(6), 725-738. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509208.2022.2045166.

Dowling, D. O., Johnson, P. R., & Ekdale, B. (2022). Hijacking journalism: Legitimacy and metajournalistic discourse in right-wing podcasts. Media and Communication, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v10i3.5260.

Johnson, P. R. (2022). Defining the ethical student journalist. Journal of Media Education, 13(2), 20-39.

Mihailidis, P., Ramasubramanian, S., Tully, M., Foster, B., Riewestahl, E., Johnson, P., & Angrove, S. (2021). Do media literacies approach equity & justice?. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 13(2), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2021-13-2-1.

Book Chapters

Johnson, P. R., & Tully, M. (accepted). Teaching trust: Setting the stage for journalism education. In K. Fowler-Watt (Ed.) Routledge Companion to Journalism Education (1st edition). Routledge.

Johnson, P. R. (2025). Using newsroom reconstruction to understand metacognition in journalism. In M. P. Boyle & A. M. Rainear (Eds.), Evolving Journalism Research Methods: Applications, Trends, Analyses (pp. XX). Routledge.

Ramasubramanian, S., Burth, S., & Johnson, P. R. (2025). Media literacy education. In E. Scharrer (Ed.), Children, Media, Technology: Access, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (pp. 84-99). Routledge.

Tully, M., & Johnson, P. R. (2025). News literacy and digital journalism. In S.A. Eldridge, D. Cheruiyot, S. Banjac, & J. Swart (Eds.), Routledge Companion to Digital Journalism Studies (2nd edition) (pp. 132-142). Routledge.

Wang, Y., & Johnson, P. R. (2024). Teaching the LGBTQ+ press, journalism, and intersectionality. In N.S. Rodriguez (Ed.), Instructing Intersectionality: Critical and Practical Strategies for the Journalism and Mass Communication Classroom (pp. 95-109). Rowan and Littlefield.

Johnson, P. R. (2024). News literacy is essential to democracy. In T. J. Johnson & A. Veenstra (Eds.), The Press and Democratic Backsliding: How Journalism has Failed the Public and How it Can Revive Democracy (pp. 249-270). Lexington Books.

Johnson, P. R. (2023). Teaching advanced undergraduate media ethics. In N. Kraft & K. B. Culver (Eds.) Teaching Media Ethics (pp. 19-26). Rowan and Littlefield.

Johnson, P. R. (2023). Inclusive teaching as ethical practice. In N. Kraft & K. B. Culver (Eds.) Teaching Media Ethics (pp. 45-52). Rowan and Littlefield.

Johnson, P. R. & Tully, M. (2023). Can We Rebuild Broken Relationships? Examining Journalism, Social Media, and Trust in a Fractured Media Environment. In K. Fowler-Watt & J. McDougall (Eds.), Palgrave Handbook on Media Misinformation (pp. 279-295). Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11976-7_19.

Johnson, P. R., Foster, B., Riewestahl, E., Tully, M., Ramasubramanian, S., & Mihailidis, P. (2022). Critical Media Literacy Practices for Equitable Futures: A Field Guide for ELA. In M. T. Christel & W. Kist (Eds.), Bringing Critical Media Literacy into ELA Classrooms (pp. 27-32). National Council of Teachers of English.

Ramasubramanian, S., & Johnson, P. R. (2022). Media and Learning of the Social World. In D. Lemish (Ed.), The Routledge International Handbook of Children, Adolescents, and Media (2nd edition) (pp. 277-284). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003118824-35.

Reports & White Papers

Wilner, T., Muse, H., Coddington, M., Hernández, F. G., Johnson, P. R., McLemore, D., Muddiman, A., Rhodes, S., Sridharan, N., Appelman, A., Assaf., C. T., Bentley, J., Núñez-Mussa, E., Green-Barber, L., Lewis, S. C., Bélair-Gagnon., V., Golen, J., Holton, A., & Mahmood, R. (2024). The Research Practice Gap in Journalism: Why It Exists and How We Can Address It. (White paper). Journalism Bridging Project and American Press Institute. https://www.journalismbridgingproject.com/.

Mihailidis, P., Ramasubramanian, S., Tully, M., Foster, B., Riewestahl, E., Johnson, P., & Angove, S.  (2021). Equity and impact in media literacy practice: Mapping the field in the United States. National Association of Media Literacy Educators. https://mappingimpactfulml.org/report.

Book Reviews

Johnson, P. R. (2024). Book review: The journalism manifesto. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 48(3), 490-493. https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599221102561

Johnson, P. R. (2023) Book Review: Journalistic Autonomy. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 100(1), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990221123580.

Johnson, P. R. (2023). Imagined audiences: How journalists perceive and pursue the public. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 47(2), 212-215. https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599211039212.

Reviewed Essays, Editorials, and Commentary

Johnson, P. R. (2024). A Call to go in Between the Sheets: Finding Power and Significance in Studying Sex and Sexuality in Communication Research. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 48(4), 499-503. https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599241265563.

Johnson, P. R. (2024). Journalism and its Response to Crisis: Understanding the Role of Place and Community in Journalism Studies. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 48(3), 335-337. https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599241252285

Johnson, P. R. (2024). Exploring Gendered Futures. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 48(2), 183-184. https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599231206978

Johnson, P. R. (2024). Finding Political Balance in Times of Political Inconsistency. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 48(1), 3-5. https://doi.org/10.1177/01968599231206978

Johnson, P. R. (2022). Magazines that Made Me: Rolling Stone, Esquire, Playboy, Fangoria. Journal of Magazine Media, 22(1-2), 23-24. https://doi.org/10.1353/jmm.2021.0010.

Johnson, P. R. (2021). Media Literacy for Freedom: Activism for the Oppressed. Media Ethics Magazine, 33(1). <https://www.mediaethicsmagazine.com/index.php/browse-back-issues/217-spring-2021-vol-32-no-3/3999361-media-literacy-for-freedom-activism-for-the-oppressed>.

Works in Progress (under review)

Johnson, P. R. Understanding audiences and relationship building as news literate behaviors.

Johnson, P. R. Legal literacy as a news literate behavior.

Johnson, P.R., & Gran, E. Randy Shilts.

Works in Progress (planning & writing)

Book-length projects

Johnson, P. R. LGBTQ+ journalism and history.

Johnson, P. R. (proposal). Newspapers in Education: A history and future toward a more trusting and news-literate America.

Preparation for submission

Johnson, P. R., & Foster, B. They grow up and start dying: The construction of cultural authority and journalism boundaries through detachment/attachment in Fangoria.

Foster, B., & Johnson, P. R. Detachment/Attachment in journalistic discourse: The case of Spice World and cultural authority.

Johnson, P. R. & Song, F. Anita Bryant obituaries

Johnson, P. R. Kim Mulkey and the conservative attack on the press

Johnson, P. R. Coverage of the anti-sex Olympiad.

Analysis stage

Johnson, P. R. Disengaged and concerned: Local news and the coverage of the LBGTQ+ community

Johnson, P. R. The student journalist as defined by journalism program mission statements.

Johnson, P. R.. LGBTQ Knowledge Production in Journalism Studies.

Johnson, P. R., Darr, J. P., & Robinson, S. Journalism’s “White” Flight: Nuancing Political Polarization and Declining Trust in News.

Research design and data collection

Johnson, P. R. Where is the literacy in journalism’s future: Nieman predictions

Johnson, P. R. Coverage of literacy in the American press

Johnson, P. R. What is journalism education as defined program mission statements

Johnson, P. R. How we defined journalism’s future: The Nieman futures reports

Johnson, P. R. Ethical literacy as news literate behavior

Johnson, P. R., & Miller, K. E. CSR and the newsroom: Metacognitive approaches to journalists thinking about CSR statements in business reporting

Miller, K. E.,& Johnson, P. R. News coverage of corporate removals of DEI from CSR work.

News influencer team: three papers in planning stage

Memes and Journalists team: three papers in planning stage

Public Scholarship Projects

Johnson, P. (19 August 2025). Reflection, adaption and memory: a three-step process to open up the news. Journalism.co.uk. https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/reflection-adaption-and-corrections-three-ways-to-open-up-the-news-process/s2/a1273857/.

Johnson, P. R. (14 July 2025). To rebuild trust in local news, start with civic habits, not political labels | Opinion. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. https://www.jsonline.com/story/opinion/2025/07/14/marquette-poll-trust-in-journalism/84496277007/.

Johnson, P. (1 July 2025). Reflections from journalists: What we learned talking about news avoidance and LGBTQ+ coverage. Trusting News. https://trustingnews.org/reflections-from-journalists-what-we-learned-talking-about-news-avoidance-and-lgbtq-coverage/.

Johnson, P. (3 December 2024). Research: Reflection key for journalists seeking to build trust. Trusting News.  https://trustingnews.org/research-reflection-key-for-journalists-seeking-to-build-trust/.

Johnson, P. (15 January 2024). Trust is not a “useless metric” – we just need to understand it better. Journalism.co.uk. https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/trust-is-not-monolithic-it-requires-nuance-and-an-understanding-of-vulnerability/s2/a1106544/.

Trusting News

Press Pass Access with Tom Brokaw

Mapping Impactful Media Literacy Field Guide

Trade and Professional Publications

Johnson, P. (3 December 2024). Research: Reflection key for journalists seeking to build trust. Trusting News. TrustingNews.com. https://trustingnews.org/research-reflection-key-for-journalists-seeking-to-build-trust/.

Johnson, P. (24 January 2023). In pursuit of a more news literate journalism. Trusting News. Medium. https://medium.com/trusting-news/in-pursuit-of-a-more-news-literate-journalism-2cc545da241.

Darr, J., Johnson, P., & Muchna, M.  (2 September 2022). Research insights: What we learned testing an anti-polarization checklist with news consumers. Medium. https://medium.com/trusting-news/research-insights-what-we-learned-testing-an-anti-polarization-checklist-with-news-consumers-a3c448f836be.

Johnson, P., Robinson, S., & Muchna, M. (22 August 2022). Research insights: Reaching and building trust with diverse audiences. Medium. https://medium.com/trusting-news/research-insights-reaching-and-building-trust-with-diverse-audiences-3d53fc337884.

Johnson, P. (8 July 2021). Reframing the future. Quill and Scroll | The Daily Scroll. <https://quillandscroll.org/13819/the-digital-quill/weekly-scroll/the-weekly-scroll-for-november-8-2021/>.

Johnson, P. (14 July 2021). Research for/with gratitude and grace. Humanities for the Public Good. <https://uihumanitiesforthepublicgood.com/2021/07/14/research-for-with-gratitude-and-grace/>.

Johnson, P. (25 June 2021). Brokaw’s press passes grant access to unique history. The University of Iowa Libraries: News and Announcements. <https://blog.lib.uiowa.edu/speccoll/2021/06/25/brokaws-press-passes-grant-access-to-unique-history/>.

Johnson, P. (14 June 2021). A forgotten object in journalism history.” Humanities for the Public Good. < https://uihumanitiesforthepublicgood.com/2021/06/14/a-forgotten-object-in-journalism-history/>.

Johnson, P. (30 July 2020). For student journalists, there’s no trouble like John Lewis’ “good trouble.” Quill and Scroll | The Daily Scroll. <https://quillandscroll.org/11612/the-digital-quill/qs-news/for-student-journalists-theres-no-trouble-like-john-lewis-good-trouble/>.

Johnson, P. (16 January 2019). Five college Instagram accounts to be inspired by right now and why. JEA Digital Media. <http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/2019/01/16/five-college-instagram-accounts-to-be-inspired-by-right-now-and-why/>.

Johnson, P. (11 January 2019). Here’s what one staff did to brand their Instagram account. JEA Digital Media. <http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/2019/01/11/heres-what-one-staff-did-to-brand-their-instagram-accounts/>.

Johnson, P. (12 December 2018). I’m adviser Patrick Johnson, and this is our newsroom. JEA Digital Media. <http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/2018/12/12/im-adviser-patrick-johnson-and-this-is-our-newsroom/>.

Johnson, P. (12 October 2018). Why Adobe Spark is your next tech tool. JEA Digital Media. <http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/2018/10/12/why-adobe-spark-is-your-next-tech-tool/>.

Johnson, P. (10 October 2018). Spark Posts is the way to tell stories right now. JEA Digital Media. <http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/2018/10/10/spark-posts-is-the-way-to-tell-stories-right-now/>.

Johnson, P.R. (3 July 2018). We hold these truths to be self evident. Marquette Educator. <https://marquetteeducator.wordpress.com/2018/07/03/we-hold-these-truths-to-be-self-evident/>.

Johnson, P. (Fall 2017). Going onward and upward. Communication: Journalism Education Today.

Johnson, P. (20 October 2017). Why we write: Scholastic journalism educators on the importance of modeling. Education Week. <http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/work_in_progress/2017/10/why_we_write_scholastic_journa.html>.

Johnson, P. (Summer 2017). Things we like: The Tom Tom. Communication: Journalism Education Today.

Johnson, P. (30 June 2017). Build up your staff’s spotify playlist with these quick ideas. JEA Digital Media. <http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/2017/06/30/build-up-your-staffs-spotify-playlist-with-these-quick-ideas/>.

Johnson, P. (28 June 2017). Why Spotify is your next social media experience. JEA Digital Media. <http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/2017/06/28/why-spotify-is-your-next-social-media-experience/>.

Johnson, P. (18 January 2017). Using Google Sheets to develop and track media campaigns. JEA Digital Media. <http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/2017/01/18/using-google-sheets-to-develop-and-track-media-campaigns/>.

Johnson, P. (11 January 2017). 4 social media content tips to improve your sports storytelling and audience engagement. JEA Digital Media. <http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/2017/01/11/4-social-media-content-tips-to-improve-your-sports-storytelling-and-audience-engagement/>.

Johnson, P. (9 January 2017). 7 Ways to develop a social media presence for school athletic programs. JEA Digital Media. <http://www.jeadigitalmedia.org/2017/01/09/7-ways-to-develop-a-social-media-presence-for-school-athletic-programs/>.

Johnson, P. (Spring 2013). The social journalist: Adaptation and instruction for social media in the journalism classroom. Communication: Journalism Education Today.

Johnson, P. (Fall 2012). Functioning in a digital world with a print history. Communication: Journalism Education Today.

Johnson, P. (12 July 2012). The man with the ’35 Ford. Old Cars Weekly.