Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2017, Mass Communication (Communication)

The minute the 26th Ebola Virus Disease broke out in parts of West Africa in 2014, journalists and media practitioners in the region went straight to work in keeping their citizens informed about the strange and deadly disease. Armed with nothing but their pens, papers, voices and computers, West African journalists in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, countries most affected by the pandemic, struggled to communicate the noxious pandemic to their citizens who were at the mercy of the virus and were dying in droves by the day. In spite of the numerous challenges they faced, West African journalists in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and other countries in the sub-region kicked their `interventionism' role into overdrive and braved the frontlines of the deadly disease just to get the information for their citizens. While reporting on the outbreak, some journalists got infected and died, others had their human rights to free speech infringed upon and faced harassment from their governments based on what they had said or written. Some employed innovative methods in reporting the disease while others were branded as alarmist and rumor peddlers. The African approach to reporting health emergency was evident. In Sierra Leone, journalists there said they agreed to partner with the government and practiced development journalism with the goal of helping the government to end the pandemic. Various templates used in reporting normal stories were experimented until journalists found the best way to communicate the disease to their citizens. With Ebola declared over in Sierra Leone, journalists believed they played a major role to take Sierra Leone out of the Ebola nightmare. This study took a comparative approach to inquire from West African journalists in Sierra Leone and Ghana who reported on the 2014 Ebola outbreak about their lived experiences in covering the disease. The purpose was to find out the differences and similarities in the approach used by West Afric (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Steve Howard PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Communication; Comparative Literature; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Public Health

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2021, Journalism (Communication)

This study examined sourcing and framing in PTSD news coverage published by The New York Times from 1999–2020 using quantitative content analysis. Based on the findings of previous studies, it was hypothesized that the sampled coverage would overrepresent combat trauma relative to other sources of trauma, underrepresent options for treatment and recovery, privilege men and official sources over women and unofficial sources (i.e., men and official sources would speak more often than women and unofficial sources), and favor episodic/individual framing over thematic/social framing. However, these hypotheses were only partially supported. The researcher ultimately found that, while the sampled coverage did overrepresent combat trauma and underrepresent treatment and recovery options, as well as favor men over women in sourcing, it defied expectations in other ways. Namely, it was observed that civilian/unofficial sources predominated over official sources, and that thematic/social framing predominated over episodic/individual framing.

Committee: Parul Jain Dr. (Advisor); Rosanna Planer (Committee Member); Victoria LaPoe Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Mental Health

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2024, Journalism (Communication)

This research assesses the effects of media richness on journalism students' attitudes and readiness to report on mental illness ethically and accurately. Due to the ongoing inaccurate and sensationalized depictions of mental illness in media, future journalists must be trained to combat these issues. This study engaged 280 U.S. journalism students in a posttest-only experimental design. Participants were assigned to one of three conditions through Qualtrics: rich media with a narrated slide deck, moderate media with a non-narrated slide deck, and lean media with a static text page. Results indicated no significant difference in attitudes, self-efficacy, or intentions between the groups, challenging the predicted educational advantage of rich media. These findings suggest alternative factors – such as individual motivation – might also influence learning outcomes. This study calls for further inquiry into rich media educational methods to prepare journalism students to tackle subjects like mental health in their future careers.

Committee: Parul Jain (Advisor); Greg Newton (Committee Member); Kimberly Rios (Committee Member); Robert Stewart (Committee Member) Subjects: Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Mental Health

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2021, English

The Kirkbride plan for American mental hospitals first took hold in the late 1840s and remained the most popular floor plan for insane asylums for the next forty years. Kirkbride asylums were considered vital, scientifically advanced centers of mental health treatment throughout the nineteenth century, but quickly became outdated, overcrowded, understaffed, and dilapidated. Today only about one-third of the original Kirkbride buildings constructed from the 1840s to the 1890s remain standing, but their impact on the national imagination is both enormous and permanent. This thesis for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at The Ohio State University is a combination of memoir and literary journalism documenting the origins, lifespan, decline, and historic preservation of Kirkbride asylums around the continental United States, as well as the author's own experiences with bipolar disorder and psychiatric care.

Committee: Lee Martin (Advisor); Michelle Herman (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; American Studies; Architecture; Fine Arts; History; Journalism; Landscape Architecture; Mental Health; Psychology; Public Health

Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, 2021, Journalism

The professional project portion is a longform story about the reclamation of the Athens Lunatic Asylum cemeteries. Athens residents worked to beautify the cemeteries while also using grave records to match names to the numbered headstones. Similar projects have arisen at other former asylums across the country, bringing into question why patients were buried anonymously, and why communities suddenly took notice of the cemeteries decades later. The story explores the meaning behind giving identities back to former patients as well as changing views of mental illness. (Text is included here along with a link to the full multimedia project.) The scholarly essay portion is a literature review exploring mental illness representation in journalism. It considers how stereotypes are created in the media, common stereotypes about individuals with mental illness and the effects of reporting on mental illness. It concludes with recommended best practices for journalists reporting on mental illness.

Committee: Hans Meyer (Advisor) Subjects: Journalism