Alum wins AEJMC award for best mass communication dissertation
Scott Parrott, a 2013 UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media doctoral graduate, received the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s (AEJMC) Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award at the organization’s annual conference in Montréal in August. It marks the third consecutive year a UNC student has won the award.
The award is the highest honor bestowed on student scholarship, recognizing the “best dissertation in the field of mass communication research” as judged by AEJMC's Research Committee and top scholars.
“This award recognizes the strength of Scott’s research, as well as the strength of the theoretical and methodological training he received at UNC,” said Rhonda Gibson, associate professor and Parrott’s dissertation committee chair. “It was a pleasure to work with Scott on this project; he has an amazing work ethic and has already developed an impressive record of scholarship.”
Parrott’s dissertation, “An examination of the use of disparagement humor in online TV comedy clips and the role of audience reaction in its effects,” was a mixed-methods study that investigated the prevalence and effects of demeaning humorous content.
To learn more about how disparagement humor is used in a more recent presentation format — specifically online TV videos — his project’s first study involved a content analysis of both the number and content of humorous clips on network TV websites, and how the content was framed using validating or condemning audience reaction. Analysis of more than 600 video clips posted on five network TV Internet sites in 2012 and 2013 showed that about one-fourth of humorous video clips contain disparagement humor, which often targets characters on the basis of gender, race, personality, sexuality and physical appearance. Findings also indicate that these portrayals are likely to be socially validated by audiences.
Parrott’s second study — an experiment — looked at the effects of demeaning humorous content in the context of audience reaction. Results showed that audience members brought existing biases into the viewing environment and that those biases could predict the extent to which they enjoyed comedic ridicule of someone they disliked. More importantly, according to Gibson, the experiment expanded existing theories of disparagement humor by considering its effects within the context of social judgment and social norms. Respondents rated the disparaging humor funniest when it was accompanied by positive commentary from other viewers. The findings also suggest that viewers are more likely to share disparaging humorous content if they believe others would find the content funny, underscoring the significance of perceived social norms in the relationship between personal enjoyment and open endorsement of demeaning humor.
Parrott is an assistant professor in the Department of Journalism at the University of Alabama. Brendan Watson, a 2012 doctoral alumnus, won last year’s award for “Is Twitter a Counter Public? Comparing Individual and Community Forces that Shaped Local Twitter and Newspaper Coverage of the BP Oil Spill.” Richard Cole Eminent Professor Daniel Riffe served as Watson’s adviser. Dean Smith, a 2011 UNC doctoral alumnus, won the award in 2012 for “Legislating the First Amendment: Statutory Shield Laws as Non-Judicial Precedents.” Professor Cathy Packer served as his adviser.
Other UNC doctoral students who have won the award include Edward Alwood, a professor at Quinnipiac University; Mark Feldstein, Richard Eaton Professor of Broadcast Journalism at the University of Maryland; Kathy Roberts Forde, journalism chair at UMass Amherst; Jane Rhodes, a professor at Macalester College; and Mark West, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
The recognition carries a monetary award and the winner is formally presented at the annual business meeting of the AEJMC, the oldest professional organization dedicated to journalism and mass communication education and research. AEJMC's beginnings are traced to 1912 and its 3,700 members represent 50 countries around the world.