Stephanie Craft
Biographic Data
| ID | 4491813 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stephanie Craft |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stephanie |
| FAMILY NAME | Craft |
| SIGNATURE | CRAFT S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 228 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
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…
Recentering News in Journalism Studies: A Response to Journalism Studies for Realists
Carlson and Peters’ call to decenter journalism in journalism studies is intended as a corrective to a scholarly literature whose preoccupation with the “newsroom” and journalism’s distinctive role in civic life limits the questions researchers ask. Their criticism is warranted; their solution, in my view, misses the mark. I argue that better explication, particularly a task-oriented approach focusing on what, exactly, we mean to study when we st…
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.…
An Overdue Contribution: Mass Communication Theory in the Security of Democracy
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…
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…
Fake News as a Critical Incident in Journalism
This study examines how American newspapers made sense of the issue of fake news. By analysing newspaper editorials and considering the problem of fake news as a critical incident confronting journalism, this study found that news organizations in the US recognize fake news as a social problem while acknowledging the challenge in defining it. They generally considered fake news as a social media phenomenon thriving on political polarization drive…
Have You Heard: US journalistic “listening” in cacophonous times
This study seeks to understand “listening” as a practice and norm of journalism in the context of an eruption of journalistic discourse about listening surrounding the 2016 US election. An examination of US journalists’ own discourse about listening pointed to an understanding of the need to listen more, better, and to a more diverse set of voices. The widespread criticism of journalism’s performance frequently pointed to failures of listening as…
News Media Literacy and Political Engagement: What’s the Connection?
Scholars and educators have long hoped that media education is positively related to pro-social goals such as political and civic engagement. With a focus on measuring news media literacy with emphasis on media knowledge, need for cognition and media locus of control, this study surveyed 537 college students and found positive relationships between news media literacy and two political engagement measures: current events knowledge and internal po…
Consuming Catastrophe: Mass Culture in America's Decade of Disaster
Having spent many hours watching, reading, and thinking about news coverage of school shootings in the United States—a singularly depressing experience that explains why I keep pushing that research project to the back burner—I read Timothy Recuber’s Consuming Catastrophe: Mass Culture in America’s Decade of Disaster with great interest and no small measure of sympathy. Or perhaps empathy is the more accurate term for my belief that I had felt, a…
News media literacy and conspiracy theory endorsement
Conspiracy theories flourish in the wide-open media of the digital age, spurring concerns about the role of misinformation in influencing public opinion and election outcomes. This study examines whether news media literacy predicts the likelihood of endorsing conspiracy theories and also considers the impact of literacy on partisanship. A survey of 397 adults found that greater knowledge about the news media predicted a lower likelihood of consp…
Principles of American Journalism: An Introduction
Designed to engage, inspire and challenge students while laying out the fundamentals of the craft, Principles of American Journalism introduces readers to the core values of journalism and its singular role in a democracy. From the First Amendment to Facebook, the new and revised edition of this popular textbook provides a comprehensive exploration of the guiding principles of journalism and what makes it unique: the profession's ethical and lega…
The Discursive Construction of Journalistic Transparency
Drawing on Bourdieu's field theory, this study explores how journalistic doxa and cultural capital come to be discursively formed. The study culls references to journalistic transparency from a broad range of US journalism trade publications and sites from 1997 to 2015 in order to examine the discursive construction of transparency within the journalistic field. The analysis focuses on what members of the journalistic field in the United States m…
Principles of American Journalism: An Introduction
Trajectories
When the Journalism Studies Interest Group of the International Communication Association was formed in pre-Katrina New Orleans in 2004, online journalism looked very much like offline journalism. Yes, content was available on a computer screen rather than on a piece of paper or over the airwaves. But otherwise, it was much the same: produced by a news organization, dominated by text, consumed but not created by an audience. By the time the inter…
Developing a News Media Literacy Scale
Using a framework previously applied to other areas of media literacy, this study developed and assessed a measurement scale focused specifically on critical news media literacy. Our scale appears to successfully measure news media literacy as we have conceptualized it based on previous research, demonstrated through assessments of content, construct, and predictive validity. Among our college student sample, a separate media system knowledge ind…
Principles of American Journalism: An Introduction
In a rapidly changing media landscape, what becomes of journalism? Designed to engage, inspire and challenge students while laying out the fundamental principles of the craft, Principles of American Journalism introduces students to the core values of journalism and its singularly important role in a democracy. From the First Amendment to Facebook, Stephanie Craft and Charles N. Davis provide a comprehensive exploration of the guiding principles …
New media, old criticism: Bloggers’ press criticism and the journalistic field
Bourdieu’s field theory suggests that the rise of the internet and blogs could generate a shift in the journalistic field – the realm where actors struggle for autonomy – as new agents gain access. This textual analysis of 282 items of media criticism appearing on highly trafficked blogs reveals an emphasis on traditional journalistic norms, suggesting a stable field. Occasional criticisms of the practicability of traditional norms and calls for …
Women in the Newsroom: Influences of Female Editors and Reporters on the News Agenda
This study compared issue agendas and story focus at newspapers with relatively high percentages of women in editorial positions with those at newspapers with lower percentages of female editors. Content analysis of stories from thirty newspapers' Web sites showed few differences in issues covered, but differences in what male and female reporters covered related to the predominant editor gender. Newspapers with a high percentage of female editor…
Diversity Efforts at the Los Angeles Times: Are Journalists and the Community on the Same Page
Survey data from Los Angeles Times editorial employees and residents of Los Angeles County were gathered to determine respondents' views of the newspaper's efforts to increase minority coverage, specifically with regard to the market-driven nature of those efforts. How respondents perceive market-driven journalism and the extent to which newsroom and community perceptions of it are similar were specifically addressed. This is an important and neg…
Public journalism and the search for democratic ideals
Public journalism is apparently gaining influence in newsrooms throughout the US. It seems to be a genuinely innovative effort to move journalists away from thinking about the claims of separation that have long defined the practice of journalism toward thinking about the claims of connection that might redefine and reinvigorate the role of the press in a democratic society. Public journalism presumes a democracy in decay and posits a role for th…
New media, old criticism: Bloggers’ press criticism and the journalistic field
Bourdieu’s field theory suggests that the rise of the internet and blogs could generate a shift in the journalistic field – the realm where actors struggle for autonomy – as new agents gain access. This textual analysis of 282 items of media criticism appearing on highly trafficked blogs reveals an emphasis on traditional journalistic norms, suggesting a stable field. Occasional criticisms of the practicability of traditional norms and calls for …
The Discursive Construction of Journalistic Transparency
Drawing on Bourdieu's field theory, this study explores how journalistic doxa and cultural capital come to be discursively formed. The study culls references to journalistic transparency from a broad range of US journalism trade publications and sites from 1997 to 2015 in order to examine the discursive construction of transparency within the journalistic field. The analysis focuses on what members of the journalistic field in the United States m…
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…
Fake News as a Critical Incident in Journalism
This study examines how American newspapers made sense of the issue of fake news. By analysing newspaper editorials and considering the problem of fake news as a critical incident confronting journalism, this study found that news organizations in the US recognize fake news as a social problem while acknowledging the challenge in defining it. They generally considered fake news as a social media phenomenon thriving on political polarization drive…
News media literacy and conspiracy theory endorsement
Conspiracy theories flourish in the wide-open media of the digital age, spurring concerns about the role of misinformation in influencing public opinion and election outcomes. This study examines whether news media literacy predicts the likelihood of endorsing conspiracy theories and also considers the impact of literacy on partisanship. A survey of 397 adults found that greater knowledge about the news media predicted a lower likelihood of consp…
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…
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.…
Trajectories
When the Journalism Studies Interest Group of the International Communication Association was formed in pre-Katrina New Orleans in 2004, online journalism looked very much like offline journalism. Yes, content was available on a computer screen rather than on a piece of paper or over the airwaves. But otherwise, it was much the same: produced by a news organization, dominated by text, consumed but not created by an audience. By the time the inter…
Diversity Efforts at the Los Angeles Times: Are Journalists and the Community on the Same Page
Survey data from Los Angeles Times editorial employees and residents of Los Angeles County were gathered to determine respondents' views of the newspaper's efforts to increase minority coverage, specifically with regard to the market-driven nature of those efforts. How respondents perceive market-driven journalism and the extent to which newsroom and community perceptions of it are similar were specifically addressed. This is an important and neg…
Have You Heard: US journalistic “listening” in cacophonous times
This study seeks to understand “listening” as a practice and norm of journalism in the context of an eruption of journalistic discourse about listening surrounding the 2016 US election. An examination of US journalists’ own discourse about listening pointed to an understanding of the need to listen more, better, and to a more diverse set of voices. The widespread criticism of journalism’s performance frequently pointed to failures of listening as…
Recentering News in Journalism Studies: A Response to Journalism Studies for Realists
Carlson and Peters’ call to decenter journalism in journalism studies is intended as a corrective to a scholarly literature whose preoccupation with the “newsroom” and journalism’s distinctive role in civic life limits the questions researchers ask. Their criticism is warranted; their solution, in my view, misses the mark. I argue that better explication, particularly a task-oriented approach focusing on what, exactly, we mean to study when we st…
Public journalism and the search for democratic ideals
Public journalism is apparently gaining influence in newsrooms throughout the US. It seems to be a genuinely innovative effort to move journalists away from thinking about the claims of separation that have long defined the practice of journalism toward thinking about the claims of connection that might redefine and reinvigorate the role of the press in a democratic society. Public journalism presumes a democracy in decay and posits a role for th…
Diversity Efforts at the Los Angeles Times: Are Journalists and the Community on the Same Page
Survey data from Los Angeles Times editorial employees and residents of Los Angeles County were gathered to determine respondents' views of the newspaper's efforts to increase minority coverage, specifically with regard to the market-driven nature of those efforts. How respondents perceive market-driven journalism and the extent to which newsroom and community perceptions of it are similar were specifically addressed. This is an important and neg…
Women in the Newsroom: Influences of Female Editors and Reporters on the News Agenda
This study compared issue agendas and story focus at newspapers with relatively high percentages of women in editorial positions with those at newspapers with lower percentages of female editors. Content analysis of stories from thirty newspapers' Web sites showed few differences in issues covered, but differences in what male and female reporters covered related to the predominant editor gender. Newspapers with a high percentage of female editor…
New media, old criticism: Bloggers’ press criticism and the journalistic field
Bourdieu’s field theory suggests that the rise of the internet and blogs could generate a shift in the journalistic field – the realm where actors struggle for autonomy – as new agents gain access. This textual analysis of 282 items of media criticism appearing on highly trafficked blogs reveals an emphasis on traditional journalistic norms, suggesting a stable field. Occasional criticisms of the practicability of traditional norms and calls for …
Developing a News Media Literacy Scale
Using a framework previously applied to other areas of media literacy, this study developed and assessed a measurement scale focused specifically on critical news media literacy. Our scale appears to successfully measure news media literacy as we have conceptualized it based on previous research, demonstrated through assessments of content, construct, and predictive validity. Among our college student sample, a separate media system knowledge ind…
Principles of American Journalism: An Introduction
In a rapidly changing media landscape, what becomes of journalism? Designed to engage, inspire and challenge students while laying out the fundamental principles of the craft, Principles of American Journalism introduces students to the core values of journalism and its singularly important role in a democracy. From the First Amendment to Facebook, Stephanie Craft and Charles N. Davis provide a comprehensive exploration of the guiding principles …
Trajectories
When the Journalism Studies Interest Group of the International Communication Association was formed in pre-Katrina New Orleans in 2004, online journalism looked very much like offline journalism. Yes, content was available on a computer screen rather than on a piece of paper or over the airwaves. But otherwise, it was much the same: produced by a news organization, dominated by text, consumed but not created by an audience. By the time the inter…
Principles of American Journalism: An Introduction
Designed to engage, inspire and challenge students while laying out the fundamentals of the craft, Principles of American Journalism introduces readers to the core values of journalism and its singular role in a democracy. From the First Amendment to Facebook, the new and revised edition of this popular textbook provides a comprehensive exploration of the guiding principles of journalism and what makes it unique: the profession's ethical and lega…
The Discursive Construction of Journalistic Transparency
Drawing on Bourdieu's field theory, this study explores how journalistic doxa and cultural capital come to be discursively formed. The study culls references to journalistic transparency from a broad range of US journalism trade publications and sites from 1997 to 2015 in order to examine the discursive construction of transparency within the journalistic field. The analysis focuses on what members of the journalistic field in the United States m…
Principles of American Journalism: An Introduction
News Media Literacy and Political Engagement: What’s the Connection?
Scholars and educators have long hoped that media education is positively related to pro-social goals such as political and civic engagement. With a focus on measuring news media literacy with emphasis on media knowledge, need for cognition and media locus of control, this study surveyed 537 college students and found positive relationships between news media literacy and two political engagement measures: current events knowledge and internal po…
Consuming Catastrophe: Mass Culture in America's Decade of Disaster
Having spent many hours watching, reading, and thinking about news coverage of school shootings in the United States—a singularly depressing experience that explains why I keep pushing that research project to the back burner—I read Timothy Recuber’s Consuming Catastrophe: Mass Culture in America’s Decade of Disaster with great interest and no small measure of sympathy. Or perhaps empathy is the more accurate term for my belief that I had felt, a…
News media literacy and conspiracy theory endorsement
Conspiracy theories flourish in the wide-open media of the digital age, spurring concerns about the role of misinformation in influencing public opinion and election outcomes. This study examines whether news media literacy predicts the likelihood of endorsing conspiracy theories and also considers the impact of literacy on partisanship. A survey of 397 adults found that greater knowledge about the news media predicted a lower likelihood of consp…
Fake News as a Critical Incident in Journalism
This study examines how American newspapers made sense of the issue of fake news. By analysing newspaper editorials and considering the problem of fake news as a critical incident confronting journalism, this study found that news organizations in the US recognize fake news as a social problem while acknowledging the challenge in defining it. They generally considered fake news as a social media phenomenon thriving on political polarization drive…
Have You Heard: US journalistic “listening” in cacophonous times
This study seeks to understand “listening” as a practice and norm of journalism in the context of an eruption of journalistic discourse about listening surrounding the 2016 US election. An examination of US journalists’ own discourse about listening pointed to an understanding of the need to listen more, better, and to a more diverse set of voices. The widespread criticism of journalism’s performance frequently pointed to failures of listening as…
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…
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.…
An Overdue Contribution: Mass Communication Theory in the Security of Democracy
Recentering News in Journalism Studies: A Response to Journalism Studies for Realists
Carlson and Peters’ call to decenter journalism in journalism studies is intended as a corrective to a scholarly literature whose preoccupation with the “newsroom” and journalism’s distinctive role in civic life limits the questions researchers ask. Their criticism is warranted; their solution, in my view, misses the mark. I argue that better explication, particularly a task-oriented approach focusing on what, exactly, we mean to study when we st…
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…
Sociology (20 works) · Political science (19 works) · Media studies (17 works) · Media Studies and Communication (14 works) · Social Media and Politics (12 works) · Journalism (11 works) · Law (11 works) · Psychology (11 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Public relations (8 works)