Research
Projects

As part of my dissertation, this study looked at how journalists interact with sources who use anti-media rhetoric when asked to be interviewed or during an interview. Journalists used three main strategies to try convincing community members to be interviewed and/or bolster their credibility with those who wee skeptical of the press. One such strategy involved the dissemination of news literacy information, as participants sought to teach people about what journalists do. Read more here.

This project focused on how and why women journalists utilized a private Facebook group, "Nasty Writers." Motivations for group use are explored, and we found members drew on feminist ethics of care to support one another. Members often discussed safety issues at work and instances of harassment from sources and co-workers, and those who discussed these issues online also felt comfortable discussing those issues with newsroom management. Read more here.

The City of Detroit has cut off the water supply to more than 130,000 homes since 2013 in an on-going water crisis even the United Nations deemed a human rights violation. In this community-based, transmedia project, led by Dr. Rahul Mitra (Wayne State University), we explored how water security affects the everyday lives of Detroit residents, with broader implications for residents of other large US cities. We interviewed Detroit residents, some who had their water shut off by the city, some who were grassroots organizers or experts on the subject, and other ordinary residents who had a wide range of knowledge and understanding of the issue. Many of these interviews are available online and serve as an oral history of Detroit's water crisis. 

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In an additional project, I led a team analyzing news coverage of the water shutoffs to assess whose voices were privileged, residents' or city officials'. Read more here.