Doctoral alumnus to be recognized for writing nation’s top mass communication dissertation

Brendan Watson, a 2012 UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media doctoral graduate, will receive the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award at the organization’s annual conference in Washington, D.C., in August.

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 puts him among the very top young scholars who've entered our field, researchers from other powerhouse research schools,” said Daniel Riffe, the school’s Richard Cole Eminent Professor. 

Watson’s dissertation, “Is Twitter a Counter Public? Comparing Individual and Community Forces that Shaped Local Twitter and Newspaper Coverage of the BP Oil Spill,” examined how variables such as the Gulf Coast communities’ economic reliance on the oil industry shaped coverage of the BP oil spill. It compared newspaper coverage and tweets about the spill, addressing, among other questions, whether Twitter represents an alternative medium. 

It utilized several research methods, including content analysis of the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill in newspaper and social media coverage in states on the Gulf, original data from a survey of journalists covering the spill, and data on community structure, oil industry dependency and pluralism. 

According to Riffe, who served as Watson’s dissertation committee chair, community-level variables such as industry dependency are typically thought to affect news coverage, but that those variables – operating through journalists’ attitudes and beliefs – had not previously been studied.

The research committee noted that the “design and theoretical conceptualization of the research led him to innovations in data collection. The dissertation is meticulously researched, thoroughly documented, logically organized, methodologically sound, innovative and eloquently written. It brings together complementary evidence to explore important questions in the public sphere and contribute to mass communication theory.”

Watson is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

Dean Smith, a 2011 UNC doctoral alumnus, won the award in 2012 for his dissertation “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, an associate professor at the University of South Carolina; 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.