Melissa Tully
Biographic Data
| ID | 277100 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melissa Tully |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melissa |
| FAMILY NAME | Tully |
| SIGNATURE | TULLY M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Iowa |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1850-3477 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 49 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 225 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 49 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Media Literacy and Fact-Checking as Proactive and Reactive Responses to Misinformation in Kenya and Senegal
This study examines how media professionals in Kenya and Senegal respond to misinformation using fact-checking and media literacy strategies and how they perceive these strategies for mitigating the spread of misinformation. We conducted 42 semi-structured in-depth interviews with people belonging to one of the following three groups: individuals employed in the news media such as journalists, reporters and editors; individuals working for either…
What Is Ethical AI Use in Journalism? Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Ethical Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) Usage in Kenyan Newsrooms
The integration of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in newsrooms has prompted scholarly examination of its ethical use. While research has examined journalists’ ethical practices and news audiences’ perceptions, few studies have examined the perceptions of other key stakeholders (e.g., journalism educators, policymakers, influencers, and information technology experts) whose perceptions may influence ethical adoption. Rooted in folk the…
Effects of a News Literacy Video on News Literacy Perceptions and Misinformation Evaluation
The mixing of misinformation with high-quality news and information on social media has reinvigorated interest in the value of news literacy (NL) to build audience resiliency to misinformation. Optimizing NL messages for social media environments—where they may be seen alongside misinformation—allows these messages to reach audiences when they are most likely to benefit from them. Using a 2 (NL video vs. control video) x 2 (sunscreen promotion vi…
Misinformation and Digital Inequalities: Comparing How Different Demographic Groups Get Exposed to and Engage with False Information
This study examines the extent to which digital inequalities, often associated in the literature with certain social demographics (e.g. age or place of residence), shape media users’ exposure to and engagement with misinformation. Using data from 24 focus group discussions conducted in six African countries (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), we describe media users’ diverse experiences with false information and discuss …
What is media literacy and why does it matter? Perspectives of Senegalese media professionals
Like other West African countries, Senegal has not been spared from the adverse political, social, cultural and economic effects of misinformation. Although the country stands out as a pioneer in West Africa for introducing media literacy education within the school system in the early 1960s, it has not yet established a national strategy for promoting media literacy. At the same time, media literacy has been touted as one way to address misinfor…
Barriers to mediation among U.S. parents of adolescents: A mixed-methods study of why parents do not monitor or restrict digital media use
Developing and Validating a 15-Item True/False Measure of News Literacy Knowledge
Given growing interest in the potential importance of news literacy around the world, a theoretically grounded and empirically validated measure of news literacy is essential. Building on existing theory, we developed and validated a 15-item true/false measure of news literacy knowledge. This measure comprehensively operationalizes the five C’s of news literacy—context, creation, content, circulation, and consumption—in a concise, adaptable, know…
Mapping media literacy impact in the U.S: A review of literature and call for equity
While media literacy has grown to encompass many topics to provide learners with the skills required to be active citizens and savvy media consumers, there is no clear conceptual framework to define ‘impact.’ This review of literature aims to understand how recent U.S.-based media literacy scholarship defines impact. We analyzed 300 articles published from 2010 to 2020 on the impact of media literacy initiatives in the U.S. We propose the 6 E’s a…
Exploring Kenyans’ interactions with misinformation on WhatsApp
The abundance of misinformation spreading online has precipitated a need to investigate experiences with misinformation in more closed spaces like those found on WhatsApp. Based on interviews with Kenyan adults, this study examines participants’ perceptions of misinformation circulated on WhatsApp and its potential consequences, interactions with misinformation, and decision-making. Findings indicate that participants perceive sharing misinformat…
Designing equitable media literacy interventions for critical youth agency
In recent years, young people engaged in political discourse and civic action online. U.S.-based social movements centered on equity issues, such as Black Lives Matter, Dreamers, and March for Our Lives, engaged young people in shaping and publicizing the goals of these movements through digital platforms. Increasingly in communities at the margins, young Americans need digital and media literacy skills to supplement contentious education restric…
Developing a framework for equitable media literacy practice: Voices from the field
The article presents a framework for equitable media literacy practice (EMLP), which changes structure, action, and agency in service of an imagined and inclusive future and makes space for equitable civic and educational experiences. We derived this framework from 28 in-depth interviews with media literacy practitioners across the US. We asked these practitioners what EMLP would mean to them and what challenges and opportunities for EMLP emerge …
Stakeholder perceptions of regulatory responses to misinformation in Kenya and Senegal
While misinformation is very prevalent in Africa, we have a limited understanding of how key stakeholders, such as journalists, fact-checkers, policy experts, and educators, perceive responses to misinformation to address its spread. Based on an analysis of 46 interviews with media professionals and other key stakeholders from Kenya and Senegal, we find divergent perceptions of what regulatory interventions are needed to slow the spread of misinf…
Fact-checking the Covid-19 Infodemic in Sub-Saharan Africa
This study examines fact-checking of the misinformation about COVID-19 circulating in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2020. It uses thematic textual analysis to understand the geographic scope, sources, and themes of hundreds of hoaxes from across Sub-Saharan Africa indexed in the #CoronaVirusFacts Alliance database. In addition, it explores a subset of debunked items from Nigeria to demonstrate efforts to go beyond traditional fact-checking to educate aud…
Roadblocks and resistance: Digital mediation as a process of calibration among U.S. parents of adolescents
Research in parental mediation often focuses on how parents’ practices for managing digital media are aligned with normative expectations. However, there is less research that explores parental mediation as a process, with practices changing over time in response to barriers and challenges. To address this gap, the goal of the current study is to examine parents’ decisions around not monitoring or limiting adolescents’ media use. Based on focus g…
Perils of political engagement? Examining the relationship between online political participation and perceived electoral integrity during 2020 US election
10.1080/19331681.2023.2275255
Who is Responsible for Stopping the Spread of Misinformation? Examining Audience Perceptions of Responsibilities and Responses in Six Sub-Saharan African Countries
While research on misinformation in Africa has increased in recent years, and despite a growing body of theoretical and empirical work that considers the role of governments, platforms, and users in stopping misinformation globally, there is still a lack of empirical research addressing ways to curb its spread on the continent. Research has coalesced around the idea that no single approach will work in all contexts, and effective strategies need …
Everyday News Use and Misinformation in Kenya
A growing body of work in journalism studies focuses on understanding audiences’ relationship with news and misinformation. This article adds to this area of inquiry by exploring Kenyans’ experiences with news and (mis)information in their everyday lives, how they use traditional and social media to meet their information needs, and how they navigate information ecosystems with a particular focus on news literacy strategies. This study broadens t…
Autonomy vs. control: Associations among parental mediation, perceived parenting styles, and U. S. adolescents’ risky online experiences
Parenting that supports autonomy and promotes open communication leads to better outcomes for adolescents. In an era of digital media, however, adolescent desire for autonomy may conflict with parental mediation practices that exert control over media use. A survey of 356 U.S. parent-child dyads was conducted. Regression analyses showed that withdrawing access to digital media as punishment is negatively associated with adolescent perception of a…
Social media, misinformation, and age inequality in online political engagement
This study explores the role of political information seeking on social media and perceived exposure to misinformation in influencing online political engagement. A survey investigation of three Sub-Saharan African countries (Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa) suggests that both information seeking and perceived exposure to misinformation are positively associated with online political engagement. We find that younger citizens are more actively en…
Can News Literacy Help Reduce Belief in Covid Misinformation
The rapid spread of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased calls for news literacy to help mitigate endorsement of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and other falsehoods. In two cross-sectional online surveys conducted in October 2020 (N = 1,502) and July 2021 (N = 1,330), this study examines relationships between news literacy, COVID-19 misinformation, conspiratorial thinking, and political orientation in the United States.…
Global Disparities in Knowledge Production Within Journalism Studies: Are Special Issues the Answer
Within journalism studies, journalism theory and phenomenon in the Global North receive outsized attention, while studies of journalism in the Global South and by scholars in the Global South are infrequent and largely ignored. One response to geographic disparities in knowledge production has been to encourage more special issues that focus on the Global South. These calls are based on a belief that special issues provide a more welcoming venue …
News literacy, social media behaviors, and skepticism toward information on social media
Amid growing concerns about misinformation on social media, scholars, educators, and commentators see news literacy as a means to improve critical media consumption. We use a nationally-representative sample to investigate the relationship between news literacy (NL), seeing and posting news and political content on social media, and skepticism toward information shared on social media. This study finds NL and related orientations contribute to wh…
Defining and conceptualizing news literacy
Interest in news literacy inside and outside the academy has grown alongside related concerns about the quality of news and information available. Attempts to fully define, explicate and operationalize news literacy, however, are scattered. Drawing on literature across journalism and mass communication, we propose a definition of news literacy that combines knowledge of news production, distribution and consumption with skills that help audiences…
Correcting Misperceptions About Genetically Modified Food on Social Media: Examining the Impact of Experts, Social Media Heuristics, and the Gateway Belief Model
We experimentally test whether expert organizations on social media can correct misperceptions of the scientific consensus on the safety of genetically modified (GM) food for human consumption, as well as what role social media cues, in the form of “likes,” play in that process. We find expert organizations highlighting scientific consensus on GM food safety reduces consensus misperceptions among the public, leading to lower GM misperceptions and…
Ethics of Authenticity: Social Media Influencers and the Production of Sponsored Content
Media coverage of influencer marketing abounds with ethical questions about this emerging industry. Much of this coverage assumes influencers operate without an ethical framework and many social media personalities skirt around the edges of legal guidelines. Our study starts from the premise that influencer marketing is not inherently unethical but, rather, the ethical principles guiding production of sponsored content are not well understood. Th…
Making Change: Diffusion of Technological, Relational, and Cultural Innovation in the Newsroom
Diffusion of innovations theory typically has been applied to the spread of a particular technology or practice rather than the interplay of a cluster of innovations. This case study of a news company undergoing significant change seeks to offer a deeper understanding of multi-faceted industry upheaval by considering the diffusion of three interdependent yet distinct changes. Findings suggest technological change faces the fewest hurdles, as jour…
Theorizing News Literacy Behaviors
Despite renewed interest in news literacy (NL) as a way to combat mis- and dis-information, existing scholarship is plagued by insufficient theory building and inadequate conceptualization of both “NL” and its application. We address this concern by offering a concise definition of NL and suggest five key knowledge and skill domains that comprise this literacy. We distinguish NL from its application to behaviors that communication scholars have b…
Defining and conceptualizing news literacy
Interest in news literacy inside and outside the academy has grown alongside related concerns about the quality of news and information available. Attempts to fully define, explicate and operationalize news literacy, however, are scattered. Drawing on literature across journalism and mass communication, we propose a definition of news literacy that combines knowledge of news production, distribution and consumption with skills that help audiences…
News media literacy, perceptions of bias, and interpretation of news
Drawing on interviews with a diverse group of adults living in the United States, this study examines news media literacy and how perceptions of personal bias and news bias affect news choices and interpretation in general and evaluation of two news stories specifically. Findings suggest that while people recognize that their worldviews shape their news choices in the abstract and believe that news bias occurs for a variety of complex reasons, wh…
Designing and Testing News Literacy Messages for Social Media
As concerns grow about the spread of misinformation through social media, scholars have called for improving the public’s media literacy as a potential solution. This study examines the effectiveness of deploying news literacy (NL) messages on social media by testing whether NL tweets are able to affect perceptions of information credibility and NL beliefs. Using two experiments, this study tests NL tweets designed to (a) mitigate the impact of e…
Professionalizing and Profiting: The Rise of Intermediaries in the Social Media Influencer Industry
This study examines the relationship between travel influencers (e.g., bloggers and social media personalities) and destination marketers within the changing travel and tourism industry. Through in-depth interviews, observations, and document analysis, we explore the tensions between travel influencers and destination marketers that shape the way travel is promoted, labor is compensated, and professional structures are negotiated. We examine a ne…
Who Is Exposed to News? It Depends on How You Measure: Examining Self-Reported Versus Behavioral News Exposure Measures
Despite the importance of news exposure to political outcomes, news consumption is notoriously difficult to measure, and misreporting news exposure is common. In this study, we compare participants’ news behaviors measured on a news aggregator website with their self-reported story selection immediately after exposure. We find that both individual and contextual characteristics—especially the presence of political cues in news headlines—influence…
Media Literacy Messages and Hostile Media Perceptions: Processing of Nonpartisan Versus Partisan Political Information
Partisans are poor judges of news content, rating neutral content as biased against their views (the hostile media perception) and forgiving biased content when it favors their side. This study tests whether a short news media literacy public service announcement (PSA) appearing before political programming can influence credibility and hostility ratings of the program and program host. Our findings suggest that a media literacy PSA can be effect…
Correcting Misperceptions About Genetically Modified Food on Social Media: Examining the Impact of Experts, Social Media Heuristics, and the Gateway Belief Model
We experimentally test whether expert organizations on social media can correct misperceptions of the scientific consensus on the safety of genetically modified (GM) food for human consumption, as well as what role social media cues, in the form of “likes,” play in that process. We find expert organizations highlighting scientific consensus on GM food safety reduces consensus misperceptions among the public, leading to lower GM misperceptions and…
Newswork Within a Culture of Job Insecurity: Producing news amidst organizational and industry uncertainty
Rapid change in the news industry and the prevalence of layoffs, buyouts, and closings have led many newsworkers to experience job insecurity and worry about their long-term futures in journalism. Our research uses a case study of employees at an independently owned media company in the United States to explore the various ways newsworkers respond to this culture of job insecurity and how their responses affect efforts to change news practices. F…
Facts, Not Fear: Negotiating Uncertainty on Social Media During the 2014 Ebola Crisis
Trust in many government organizations is low, creating a challenging environment for communication during outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases, like Ebola. In a thematic analysis of 1,010 tweets and four Twitter chats during the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak, we found that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasized organizational competence, extant protocol, and facts about transmission to manage public fear. We argue that an emph…
Producing communities and commodities: Safaricom and commercial nationalism in Kenya
This research analyses Safaricom, one of the most established mobile operators in Kenya. Alongside the provision of mobile services, Safaricom has closely engaged with the government of Kenya, even getting involved in the nation’s politics. This study examines Safaricom’s advertisements from 2010-2014 to explore its use of national sentiment in its marketing. We argue that the ads reflect a commitment to promoting the country and its products thr…
Can News Literacy Help Reduce Belief in Covid Misinformation
The rapid spread of misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic has increased calls for news literacy to help mitigate endorsement of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and other falsehoods. In two cross-sectional online surveys conducted in October 2020 (N = 1,502) and July 2021 (N = 1,330), this study examines relationships between news literacy, COVID-19 misinformation, conspiratorial thinking, and political orientation in the United States.…
Social media, misinformation, and age inequality in online political engagement
This study explores the role of political information seeking on social media and perceived exposure to misinformation in influencing online political engagement. A survey investigation of three Sub-Saharan African countries (Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa) suggests that both information seeking and perceived exposure to misinformation are positively associated with online political engagement. We find that younger citizens are more actively en…
Crafting Lifestyles in Urban Africa: Young Ghanaians in the World of Online Friendship
Jo Ellen Fair, Melissa Tully, Brian Ekdale, Rabiu K. B. Asante, Crafting Lifestyles in Urban Africa: Young Ghanaians in the World of Online Friendship, Africa Today, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Summer 2009), pp. 28-49
Stakeholder perceptions of regulatory responses to misinformation in Kenya and Senegal
While misinformation is very prevalent in Africa, we have a limited understanding of how key stakeholders, such as journalists, fact-checkers, policy experts, and educators, perceive responses to misinformation to address its spread. Based on an analysis of 46 interviews with media professionals and other key stakeholders from Kenya and Senegal, we find divergent perceptions of what regulatory interventions are needed to slow the spread of misinf…
Global Disparities in Knowledge Production Within Journalism Studies: Are Special Issues the Answer
Within journalism studies, journalism theory and phenomenon in the Global North receive outsized attention, while studies of journalism in the Global South and by scholars in the Global South are infrequent and largely ignored. One response to geographic disparities in knowledge production has been to encourage more special issues that focus on the Global South. These calls are based on a belief that special issues provide a more welcoming venue …
Case study shows disconnect on civic journalism’s role
This in-depth case study examines attempts to transform a traditional newsroom to one oriented around civic journalism principles, offering a unique look at the resistance toward those principles even in a digital environment that facilitates new audience relationships. Civic journalism emphasizes understanding and addressing community concerns from a citizen perspective. This study finds that journalists still struggle to integrate citizens’ con…
Misinformation and Digital Inequalities: Comparing How Different Demographic Groups Get Exposed to and Engage with False Information
This study examines the extent to which digital inequalities, often associated in the literature with certain social demographics (e.g. age or place of residence), shape media users’ exposure to and engagement with misinformation. Using data from 24 focus group discussions conducted in six African countries (Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), we describe media users’ diverse experiences with false information and discuss …
Engaging with the other side: Using news media literacy messages to reduce selective exposure and avoidance
We examined whether news media literacy (NML) messages attenuate selective exposure and avoidance. One week before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, participants were randomly assigned to see a NML video advertisement before entering a simulated news aggregation website where behaviors were unobtrusively tracked. For three of the four NML messages, higher levels of partisan selective exposure among Republicans compared to Democrats in the cont…
Nobody wants the parents involved’: Social norms in parent and adolescent responses to cyberbullying
Parent involvement is considered essential to preventing cyberbullying, yet little is known about how parents respond to cyberbullying when it occurs. With this in mind, this study uses data from focus groups with parents (n = 48) to examine their responses to hypothetical cyberbullying scenarios in which their child is presented as a victim, aggressor, or bystander. We investigate how parents’ responses conform to, deviate from, or complicate no…
Exploring Kenyans’ interactions with misinformation on WhatsApp
The abundance of misinformation spreading online has precipitated a need to investigate experiences with misinformation in more closed spaces like those found on WhatsApp. Based on interviews with Kenyan adults, this study examines participants’ perceptions of misinformation circulated on WhatsApp and its potential consequences, interactions with misinformation, and decision-making. Findings indicate that participants perceive sharing misinformat…
Designing equitable media literacy interventions for critical youth agency
In recent years, young people engaged in political discourse and civic action online. U.S.-based social movements centered on equity issues, such as Black Lives Matter, Dreamers, and March for Our Lives, engaged young people in shaping and publicizing the goals of these movements through digital platforms. Increasingly in communities at the margins, young Americans need digital and media literacy skills to supplement contentious education restric…
Perils of political engagement? Examining the relationship between online political participation and perceived electoral integrity during 2020 US election
10.1080/19331681.2023.2275255
Effective messaging to communicate news media literacy concepts to diverse publics
In an evolving news environment, our understanding and application of “news media literacy” must also evolve to equip individuals with the skills to critically engage with news and participate in public life. Using an experimental design, this study tests different news media literacy messages to determine whether certain messages appeal to some groups over others and whether their effectiveness depends on the media context in which they are cons…
Crafting Lifestyles in Urban Africa: Young Ghanaians in the World of Online Friendship
Jo Ellen Fair, Melissa Tully, Brian Ekdale, Rabiu K. B. Asante, Crafting Lifestyles in Urban Africa: Young Ghanaians in the World of Online Friendship, Africa Today, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Summer 2009), pp. 28-49
The Team Online: Entertainment-Education, Social Media, and Cocreated Messages
This article examines an entertainment-education program, The Team, which began airing in Kenya after the 2007–2008 postelection violence. The show promotes cooperation and national unity among Kenyans through the metaphor of Kenya as a football (soccer) team. The focus of this article is twofold: viewers’ identification with and reaction to certain morally ambiguous characters and audience members’ interaction with the program through the online…
Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation through Recognition: Assessing an Integrated Peace Media Strategy in Kenya
This research analyzes a peace-media initiative in Kenya designed to promote conflict resolution and reconciliation in the months following the 2007 post-election violence. This multifaceted intervention featured a 19-episode television talk show that aired in Kenya for six months; a series of open-air screenings of the show; and workshops held in eight areas heavily affected by the violence. Using criteria for evaluating “media for peace,” I eva…
Newswork Within a Culture of Job Insecurity: Producing news amidst organizational and industry uncertainty
Rapid change in the news industry and the prevalence of layoffs, buyouts, and closings have led many newsworkers to experience job insecurity and worry about their long-term futures in journalism. Our research uses a case study of employees at an independently owned media company in the United States to explore the various ways newsworkers respond to this culture of job insecurity and how their responses affect efforts to change news practices. F…
Media Literacy Messages and Hostile Media Perceptions: Processing of Nonpartisan Versus Partisan Political Information
Partisans are poor judges of news content, rating neutral content as biased against their views (the hostile media perception) and forgiving biased content when it favors their side. This study tests whether a short news media literacy public service announcement (PSA) appearing before political programming can influence credibility and hostility ratings of the program and program host. Our findings suggest that a media literacy PSA can be effect…
Making Change: Diffusion of Technological, Relational, and Cultural Innovation in the Newsroom
Diffusion of innovations theory typically has been applied to the spread of a particular technology or practice rather than the interplay of a cluster of innovations. This case study of a news company undergoing significant change seeks to offer a deeper understanding of multi-faceted industry upheaval by considering the diffusion of three interdependent yet distinct changes. Findings suggest technological change faces the fewest hurdles, as jour…
Effective messaging to communicate news media literacy concepts to diverse publics
In an evolving news environment, our understanding and application of “news media literacy” must also evolve to equip individuals with the skills to critically engage with news and participate in public life. Using an experimental design, this study tests different news media literacy messages to determine whether certain messages appeal to some groups over others and whether their effectiveness depends on the media context in which they are cons…
We are one Kenya: Representations of the nation, leadership, and de-ethnicized identity on reality TV
This research analyzes Uongozi, a massive multimodal civic education campaign that culminated in the Uongozi reality television show, situating the campaign within its socio-political context. Our analysis suggests that Uongozi framed and promoted a version of leadership that is tied to an idealized progressive, youth leader despite the lack of quality youth ‘candidates’ on the show. The campaign also endorsed a message of national unity and iden…
Facts, Not Fear: Negotiating Uncertainty on Social Media During the 2014 Ebola Crisis
Trust in many government organizations is low, creating a challenging environment for communication during outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases, like Ebola. In a thematic analysis of 1,010 tweets and four Twitter chats during the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak, we found that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasized organizational competence, extant protocol, and facts about transmission to manage public fear. We argue that an emph…
Producing communities and commodities: Safaricom and commercial nationalism in Kenya
This research analyses Safaricom, one of the most established mobile operators in Kenya. Alongside the provision of mobile services, Safaricom has closely engaged with the government of Kenya, even getting involved in the nation’s politics. This study examines Safaricom’s advertisements from 2010-2014 to explore its use of national sentiment in its marketing. We argue that the ads reflect a commitment to promoting the country and its products thr…
Case study shows disconnect on civic journalism’s role
This in-depth case study examines attempts to transform a traditional newsroom to one oriented around civic journalism principles, offering a unique look at the resistance toward those principles even in a digital environment that facilitates new audience relationships. Civic journalism emphasizes understanding and addressing community concerns from a citizen perspective. This study finds that journalists still struggle to integrate citizens’ con…
Engagement: Use of Twitter chats to construct nominal participatory spaces during health crises
Although Twitter chats and other forms of social media engagement events are idealized in the literature as opportunities for dialogic communication between organizations and individuals, less is known about how engagement is operationalized within these spaces. Using textual and content analysis, we conducted two studies to explore how health organizations engage with the public via Twitter chats during the Ebola and Zika outbreaks. In official …
“You get old. You get invisible”: Social isolation and the challenge of communicating with aging women
Social isolation is a problem facing many older women. Isolation can contribute to poor health as adults age without social support. Increased and tailored communication offers service organizations more opportunities to provide social support to these adults. This research examines perceptions of aging to explore communication behaviors, barriers, and opportunities for improved communication and service provision for aging women. Using data from…
State of intervention: Community stakeholder discourse on teen childbearing in Iowa
The state of teen childbearing in Iowa (USA) is positioned by community leaders as a discursive battleground for intervention. In 2015 meetings with community stakeholders, participants framed ‘culture’ (which they defined as ethnicity and religion) as a barrier in decreasing the state’s teen pregnancy rate and increasing girls’ economic self-sufficiency. The childbearing teen body was, unsurprisingly, portrayed as a public health problem in need…
Nobody wants the parents involved’: Social norms in parent and adolescent responses to cyberbullying
Parent involvement is considered essential to preventing cyberbullying, yet little is known about how parents respond to cyberbullying when it occurs. With this in mind, this study uses data from focus groups with parents (n = 48) to examine their responses to hypothetical cyberbullying scenarios in which their child is presented as a victim, aggressor, or bystander. We investigate how parents’ responses conform to, deviate from, or complicate no…
Who Is Exposed to News? It Depends on How You Measure: Examining Self-Reported Versus Behavioral News Exposure Measures
Despite the importance of news exposure to political outcomes, news consumption is notoriously difficult to measure, and misreporting news exposure is common. In this study, we compare participants’ news behaviors measured on a news aggregator website with their self-reported story selection immediately after exposure. We find that both individual and contextual characteristics—especially the presence of political cues in news headlines—influence…
News media literacy, perceptions of bias, and interpretation of news
Drawing on interviews with a diverse group of adults living in the United States, this study examines news media literacy and how perceptions of personal bias and news bias affect news choices and interpretation in general and evaluation of two news stories specifically. Findings suggest that while people recognize that their worldviews shape their news choices in the abstract and believe that news bias occurs for a variety of complex reasons, wh…
African Elections as a Testing Ground: Comparing Coverage of Cambridge Analytica in Nigerian and Kenyan Newspapers
In March 2018, British and American news outlets published extensive reporting on Cambridge Analytica’s (CA) ethically and legally questionable activities in political campaigns around the world. This reporting primarily focused on three issues: data privacy and protection, unethical political campaigning on social media, and foreign involvement in national elections. While much attention has been paid to CA’s work in the US and UK, these exposés…
Engaging with the other side: Using news media literacy messages to reduce selective exposure and avoidance
We examined whether news media literacy (NML) messages attenuate selective exposure and avoidance. One week before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, participants were randomly assigned to see a NML video advertisement before entering a simulated news aggregation website where behaviors were unobtrusively tracked. For three of the four NML messages, higher levels of partisan selective exposure among Republicans compared to Democrats in the cont…
Designing and Testing News Literacy Messages for Social Media
As concerns grow about the spread of misinformation through social media, scholars have called for improving the public’s media literacy as a potential solution. This study examines the effectiveness of deploying news literacy (NL) messages on social media by testing whether NL tweets are able to affect perceptions of information credibility and NL beliefs. Using two experiments, this study tests NL tweets designed to (a) mitigate the impact of e…
Professionalizing and Profiting: The Rise of Intermediaries in the Social Media Influencer Industry
This study examines the relationship between travel influencers (e.g., bloggers and social media personalities) and destination marketers within the changing travel and tourism industry. Through in-depth interviews, observations, and document analysis, we explore the tensions between travel influencers and destination marketers that shape the way travel is promoted, labor is compensated, and professional structures are negotiated. We examine a ne…
Ethics of Authenticity: Social Media Influencers and the Production of Sponsored Content
Media coverage of influencer marketing abounds with ethical questions about this emerging industry. Much of this coverage assumes influencers operate without an ethical framework and many social media personalities skirt around the edges of legal guidelines. Our study starts from the premise that influencer marketing is not inherently unethical but, rather, the ethical principles guiding production of sponsored content are not well understood. Th…
Parental perceptions of gender differences in child technology use and cyberbullying
Cyberbullying is a major health concern for today's youth and a pervasive stressor for adolescents and their families. This study offers qualitative insights into how parents perceive their children's technology use and engagement in cyberbullying based on gender. Eight focus groups were conducted with 48 parents of adolescents ages 10–17. Findings indicated parents perceived their children overuse technology and lack awareness of what cyberbully…
Empowering Users to Respond to Misinformation about Covid-19
The World Health Organization has declared that misinformation shared on social media about Covid-19 is an “infodemic” that must be fought alongside the pandemic itself. We reflect on how news literacy and science literacy can provide a foundation to combat misinformation about Covid-19 by giving social media users the tools to identify, consume, and share high-quality information. These skills can be put into practice to combat the infodemic by …
Theorizing News Literacy Behaviors
Despite renewed interest in news literacy (NL) as a way to combat mis- and dis-information, existing scholarship is plagued by insufficient theory building and inadequate conceptualization of both “NL” and its application. We address this concern by offering a concise definition of NL and suggest five key knowledge and skill domains that comprise this literacy. We distinguish NL from its application to behaviors that communication scholars have b…
Political science (39 works) · Psychology (32 works) · Sociology (29 works) · Computer Science (24 works) · Misinformation and Its Impacts (23 works) · Public relations (23 works) · Social Media and Politics (23 works) · Literacy (17 works) · Social Psychology (17 works) · Business (14 works)