Episode 19: Slayyyy News Mommy: What TikTok Comments Are Saying About Women Broadcast Journalists ft. Anjelica Ortiz and Sarah Witmer
This week on About the Abstract, host Disha Patel chats with PhD students Anjelica Ortiz and Sarah Witmer about their awarded paper: Slayyyy News Mommy. Tune in to hear how audiences talk about women broadcast journalists on TikTok, what inspired the paper, and the process behind all the research.
22 Sept 2026
Episode 18: How Do Student Journalists Feel About AI? ft. Bailey Vergara
This week on About the Abstract, host Disha Patel sits down with Bailey Vergara to discuss how student journalists use Generative AI and how they navigate the technology’s risks while upholding journalistic values.
8 Sept 2026
Episode 17: Challenging the Western Male Gaze: How Diversity Impacts Style in Photojournalism ft. Alex Scott
This week on About the Abstract, host Disha Patel talks to Assistant Professor Alex Scott about the western male gaze in photojournalism and its implications. The two discuss the importance of racial and gender diversity in the newsroom and how that can affect stylistic diversity.
25 Aug 2026
Episode 16: Communicating the Crisis or Misinforming the Public? ft. Sabena Abdul Raheem
This week host Jake Mayer talks to PhD candidate Sabena Abdul Raheem about the surge in AI visuals that occurred during the 2025 California Wildfires. The two discuss the awareness that the visuals raised and the complications that followed.
11 Aug 2026
Episode 15: Promise and paradox: the uneven rise of AI in African journalism education ft. Md Sazzad Hossain
This week host Jake Mayer talks to PhD candidate Md Sazzad Hossain. This episode focuses on concerns journalism educators have about AI usage and what role ethics should play when students start using AI tools.
28 Jul 2026
Episode 14: @?”: Authorship and Newsroom Image Crediting Practices on Instagram ft. Alex Scott
This week host Jake Mayer talks to SJMC Assistant Professor Alex Scott about how photojournalists are credited in the digital age, concerns about AI-generated media and more.
14 Jul 2026
Episode 13: Managing Civility in Public Comment Sessions at Town Council Meetings ft Brett Johnson
This week host Jake Mayer talks to SJMC Associate Professor Brett Johnson about rules regulating public comment sessions at town council meetings, the constitutionality of civil codes and more!
30 Jun 2026
Episode 12: Refusal as silence: Gendered Disparities in Vision-Language Model Responses ft. Sang Jung Kim
This week host Jake Mayer talks to SJMC Assistant Professor Sang Jung Kim about how large language AI models “refuse” certain requests—and why those refusals may not be as neutral as they seem. This episode also delves into broader implications for auditing AI systems and rethinking refusal as a social and communicative act in digital environments.
16 Jun 2026
Episode 11: Communication Research Inequalities and the Prestige Dilemma ft. Jamil Marques
This week host Jacy West talks to SJMC Associate Professor Jamil Marques about the editorial policies and structural characteristics of Global South-based communication, media, and journalism academic journals. Dr. Marques and the other authors on the article analyzed the balance and tension between seeking international recognition and addressing the needs of local audiences.
2 Jun 2026
Episode 10: Others Are More Impacted by “Fake News”! Testing Third-Person Effects on Support for Censorship Among Kenyans ft. Bingbing Zhang
This week host Jacy West talks to SJMC Assistant Professor Bingbing Zhang to discuss testing Third-Person Effects on Support for Censorship Among Kenyans.Dr. Zhang and Jacy discuss positivity biases, media literacy, how Kenya's 2022 political climate shaped the way people viewed misinformation and more!
5 May 2026
Episode 9: Seeking With Sentiment: Emotional Attachment and the Use of Generative AI ft. Bingbing Zhang
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.
23 Apr 2026
Episode 8: Quality of Local TV News at Sinclair-Owned Stations ft. Kylah Hedding
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!
7 Apr 2026
Episode 7: Visual Framing at Scale ft. Sang Jung Kim
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.
24 Mar 2026
Episode 6: Theorizing Podcast Journalism: Toward a Medium-Specific Framework for Audio Reporting”
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.”
9 Mar 2026
Episode 5: "You Are Not Fat”: The Postfeminist Contradiction in hashtag #RejectBodyAnxiety
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.
23 Feb 2026
Episode 4: Equitable Media Literacies ft. Melissa Tully and Patrick Johnson
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?
9 Feb 2026
Episode 3: Care-Based Practices in Health News: Why and How U.S. Health Journalists Include Exemplars in Their Reporting ft. Munachim Amah and Rachel Young
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.
19 Dec 2025
Episode 2: Political Deepfakes and Emerging Media Challenges ft. Sang Jung Kim and Bingbing Zhang
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.
25 Nov 2025
Episode 1: Digital Media's Role in the Pursuit of Justice ft. Sarah Witmer
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.
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