The substantive areas of study that students may select from are listed and explained below. Each student must declare one primary area of study and may choose to declare a secondary area. Students may apply quantitative or qualitative methodologies to each of these areas and are expected to supplement their coursework with classes from other departments and even other universities.
1. Media processes and production: Study of the economic, ethical, and sociological influences on media industries. This includes analysis of decision-making in newsrooms and examination of how new ways of conceptualizing news and journalism are influencing management decisions.
Current and recent research topics that fall under this heading include changing news values for changing media, work-culture change in an evolving media landscape, changing conceptualizations of international news, advertisers’ responses to converged and multimedia operations, and the influence of ethical standards on perceived news credibility.
Faculty whose research and teaching interests are in this area include Deb Aikat, Lois Boynton, Craig Carroll, Richard Cole, Frank Fee, Dan Riffe and Lucila Vargas.
2. Legal and regulatory issues in mass communication: Study of the law and public policy affecting communication.
Current and recent research topics that fall under this heading include First Amendment theory, the intersection of law and ethics in mass media, regulation of online media, censorship, intellectual property and government regulation of advertising.
Faculty whose research and teaching interests are in this area include Michael Hoefges, Cathy Packer and Ruth Walden.
3. Media effects, information processing and audiences: Study of how audiences process mass media messages and of the effects of mass communication on audiences, often drawing from theoretical frameworks in cognitive, social, developmental, and cultural psychology.
Current and recent research topics that fall under this heading include media impact on health communication, media and identity, audience uses of media, effects of news exemplification processes on individuals and effects of new media.
Faculty whose research and teaching interests are in this area include Jane Brown, Francesca Carpentier, Craig Carroll, Barbara Friedman, Rhonda Gibson, Heidi Hennink-Kaminski, Joe Bob Hester, Anne Johnston, Sri Kalyanaraman, Dan Riffe, Janas Sinclair, Don Shaw, Charlie Tuggle, Lucila Vargas and Xinshu Zhao.
4. Media history: Study of social and intellectual history of news and other forms of mass communication.
Current and recent research topics that fall under this heading include freedom of expression, the African-American press, historical development of media ethics codes, and development of media technologies.
Faculty whose research and teaching interests are in this area include Deb Aikat, Frank Fee, Jean Folkerts, Barbara Friedman, Don Shaw, Dulcie Straughan, and Charlie Tuggle.
5. Political, social and strategic communication: Study of the ways in which organizations, governments, and members of social and political groups create and disseminate messages designed to persuade and inform.
Current and recent research topics that fall under this heading include the impact of mass media on the political process, persuasive elements in advertising, the role of public relations in health communication, ethical transparency in strategic communication and the role of media in cultural identity formation.
Faculty whose research and teaching interests are in this area include Lois Boynton, Jane Brown, Francesca Carpentier, Craig Carroll, Elizabeth Dougall, Heidi Hennink-Kaminski, Joe Bob Hester, Michael Hoefges, Anne Johnston, Sri Kalyanaraman, Dan Riffe, Janas Sinclair, Dulcie Straughan and Xinshu Zhao.
