MEDIA LITERACY EDUCATOR
My Work
VB Strong:
How local news stations created a platform for a community to mourn victims of a mass shooting
Mass shootings have become increasingly prevalent in the United States. News coverage of the shootings often catalyzes an emotional environment of fear, uncertainty, and, ultimately, grief. However, news can sometimes serve a different role, one that is cathartic to viewers in a time of anguish. This paper explores how local broadcast news stations in Virginia Beach provided a platform for people to process their emotions after the May 31, 2019 shooting. This study was informed by symbolic convergence theory and ritual sense-making research. Using a Qualitative Content Analysis approach to analyze the data, I examined broadcasts that aired during the first week after the Virginia Beach tragedy. The analysis revealed that local news stories and interviews provided a symbolic ritual space for viewers to grieve and allowed viewers to connect as a community.
VB Strong:
Racial portrayals are more than skin deep
Several stereotypes exist that perpetuate negative viewpoints of black hair. Although media literacy scholarship and resources have focused on media representations of race and body image, fewer have specifically centered on media representations of hair type. In this lesson, students will learn how media reinforce negative stereotypes that pertain to black hair. They will explore media sources that provide a positive counter narrative to negative perspectives. They will also identify real-life implications of mediated false black hair narratives.
Black Music is American Music:
Learning Underrepresented Aspects of Black History in College through Critical Race Media Literacy
The New York Times 1619 Project materials on American popular culture were presented to college students at a Historically Black University & College (HBCU) and Predominantly White Institution (PWI). Guided by Critical Race Media Literacy, we employed quantitative and qualitative analysis to explore the knowledge-based and emotional responses to Black historical media. The findings suggest that HBCU and PWI students had similar levels of prior knowledge. HBCU and PWI students experienced disparate emotional responses to the material. Overall, both HBCU and PWI students’ knowledge increased on this topic following the study as the content is underrepresented in education and popular culture.
VB Strong:
The role of agenda melding in measuring news media literacy
During the past few decades, educators, advocates and researchers have developed initiatives to increase news media literacy. Recent surveys indicate that audiences combine agendas from various media to suit their own needs through group discussion. This process is called “agenda melding.” Agenda melding includes the “need for orientation” function in a social context that acknowledges that the perceived importance of news issues changes in relation to their discussions with others. Using an online survey instrument with a sample of young adults, this study measures the level of news media literacy in young adults and examines the relationship between news media literacy, mindfulness, locus of control, and agenda melding. This study sought to determine whether relationships exist between the agenda melding process and news media literacy. Findings suggest that participation in the agenda melding process is associated with increases in levels of news media literacy.This study examines the relationship between news consumption habits, prosumption, and news media literacy among young adults. Maskl, Ashley, and Craft provide the basis for the modified survey instrument used in this study. The findings suggest that the amount of news consumed does not predict news media literacy on any level. However, news type can predict news media literacy. Moreover, acting as a prosumer by sharing unoriginal news stories (reposting) is associated with news media literacy. Sharing original stories, video, or pictures is not.
