About the Abstract

This week host Jacy West talks to SJMC Assistant Professor Bingbing Zhang about how generative AI is reshaping the psychology behind why we turn to it.The new study from Dr. Zhang reveals that people who feel emotionally attached to GenAI tend to trust it more and use it more often for information.  Her research shows how our feelings toward AI shape the way we seek knowledge in a rapidly changing digital world. 

This week, host Jacy West and SJMC Assistant Professor of Instruction Kylah Hedding talk about her new study examining the quality of local TV news at Sinclair-owned stations. Dr. Hedding’s research analyzes 2,300 stories across 40 US markets, offering the first large-scale, human-coded look at how corporate ownership shapes local news.  If you care about local journalism, media consolidation, or how newsrooms serve their communities, this conversation is for you!

This week, Jacy talks to SJMC’s very own Sang Jung Kim about generative AI and the Black Lives Matter movement. This research introduces a scalable, theory-driven framework for analyzing protest imagery using computer vision and generative AI.  Jacy and Dr. Kim talk about how visual cues shape public understanding of protest movements and what happens when human coders and machine models work together.  

On this episode of About the Abstract, host Jacy West sits down with Dr. David Dowling, professor at SJMC, to talk about his article, “Theorizing Podcast Journalism: Toward a Medium-Specific Framework for Audio Reporting.”

On this episode of About The Abstract, we sit down with Dr. Sang Jung Kim, Assistant Professor at SJMC, to explore her research on body-image discourse and the contradictions at the heart of postfeminist messaging online. 

On this episode of About The Abstract, we break down Equitable Media Literacies with Dr. Melissa Tully and Dr. Patrick Johnson. Their research challenges long-held assumptions about media literacy and asks a bigger question: How can media education center equity, inclusion, and community impact from the very beginning? 

This episode's guests were associate professor Rachel Young and PhD candidate Munachim Amah. They’ve explored why health journalists rely on personal stories and how those choices shape public understanding of health issues in their newest article, Care-Based Practices in Health News: Why and How U.S. Health Journalists Include Exemplars in Their Reporting.

In Episode 2 of About the Abstract, host Jacy West sits down with Bingbing Zhang and Sang Jung Kim to discuss their newly published research on political deepfakes and how people respond to disinformation.  They break down the study’s key findings and what this research means for democracy as well as media literacy today. If you’re interested in misinformation, political communication, or emerging media challenges, this episode is for you. 

This week we are joined by SJMC Ph.D. candidate Sarah Witmer to talk about her current research. Sarah explores how people use digital media to pursue justice and meaning amid declining trust in institutions.