Interested in the broader questions about sports? Ben Carrington, associate professor of sociology and journalism, examines how race, mass media, and popular culture play roles in what happens on the field and the effect of sports on society.
Lisa Pecot-Hébert, associate professor of professional practice, researches theory and gender body image in the media, including by framing cosmetic surgery through a feminist lens.
Taj Frazier, an associate professor in communication, is a cultural historian who explores the arts, political and expressive cultures of the people of the African Diaspora in the United States and elsewhere. When he was a teen, he had the chance to study in China and it was there that he became fascinated with how black American’s were treated differently. This short piece highlights one aspect of his research.
Sheila Murphy, professor of communication, created a study to test ways to motivate women to get screening for cervical cancer. Trained in social psychology, Murphy specializes in identifying the individual, interpersonal, community, ethnic and cultural factors that shape people’s knowledge, attitudes and practices.
Technology has changed how journalists interact with their audience — instead of having direct access via a television screen or a newspaper, modern journalists need to understand what networked press freedom is and how to navigate the algorithms inherent in a new social media landscape. USC Annenberg Associate Professor Mike Ananny researches the intersection between technology and journalism and discusses how critical it is to understand how they work together.
Why should we care about how journalists have been portrayed in media? What makes such an area worth studying? Those are the questions that Joe Saltzman, professor of journalism and communication, answers in this short video. For the past 20 years, he has studied film, television and books and has created a worldwide resource on this subject. He explains why this subject is important and what the image of the journalist tells us about the health of U.S. democracy.
What do wizards, explosions, and the world economy have in common? Dmitri Williams, associate professor of communication, researches games, online communities, technology, data and society. In this video, he details the social and economic impacts of online gaming.
A journalism class, led by Mary Murphy and Sandy Tolan, takes on the homelessness issue in Los Angeles County. Students spend the semester learning about the various issues and then do field reporting, creating stories, digital projects and videos. Their work was also featured in the Huffington Post. For more information on the project, click here.
