Brendan’s research
Introduction to Brendan’s current research interests
The problem with much of the research in journalism is that it takes the media as a given, even when the focus is the audience, not the media itself. For example, what’s the audience’s reaction to news coverage of X. W know from observing the current state of the news media that our current systems of reporting are broken. When the news media is taken for granted in the research, we can’t get at the core question of how to reform the media in a robust and meaningful way. Thus, I hope to start with the audience at the core of my research.
Based on a normative tradition of the news media and active democratic participation, I hope to identify the “informational needs” of positive citizenship behaviors. I am particularly interested in environmental citizenship for several key reasons: 1.) I believe strongly in urgent action on the issue of global warming; 2.) global warming and the environment more broadly is going to be a major news story for as long as we can see into the future; 3.) the global dimension of the problem presents unique communication challenges; 4.) the international dimension also challenges traditional notions of citizenship, raising new possibilities of post-cosmopolitan citizenships, which reach beyond artificial national boundaries and address historical inequalities and issues of power (in this case the powerful have the greatest historic responsibility for global warming).
Acting as an environmental citizen carries with it many different types of informational needs: how do we understand our responsibility for global warming? how do we effectively minimize our contributions to global warming? what are appropriate policy solutions? how urgent is the problem and how drastic of action is needed to address it? Once I understand the dimensions of environmental citizenship and its informational needs more fully, I hope to turn these understandings into a critique of the media’s coverage of global warming and suggestions for future news reporting on this issue.
[Last updated 9/4/2009 - I will update as my interests develop and I am able to better frame the questions I hope to investigate and start charting out my research methods]
Brendan’s previous research & publications:
I am the author of conference papers, book chapters and other original research on varied subjects. Below is a sample of my past research.
Master’s thesis:
Watson, B. 2007. “Speaking up in the 21st Century: The Effects of Communication Apprehension and Internet Self Efficacy on the Use of Social Networking Websites.” University of Missouri, Columbia, MO. Unpublished manuscript.
Book chapters:
Thorson, K. and Watson, B. 2007. “The new online campaign: Translating information into action.” In Internet Advertising: Theory and Practice, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, NY.
Bentley, C., Littau, J., Hamman, B., Watson, B., & Welsh, B. (2006). “Citizen journalism: A case study.” In M. Tremayne (Ed.). Blogging, citizenship and the future of media (1 ed., pp. 312): Routledge.
Conference papers:
Watson, Brendan. “Stalemate, Xenophobia and the Framing of the Immigration Debate, ” presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference, San Antonio, 2005.
Bentley, C., Hamman, B., Littau, J., Meyer, H. Watson, B. and Welsh, B. 2005. “My Missourian: A case study of open source journalism.” Presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference, San Antonio.
Other:
Watson, B. 2004. “Contesting Ethnic Representation and Anglo Cultural Dominance in Contemporary Chicana/o Literature.” Washington University, St. Louis, MO. Unpublished manuscript. .