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UNC Hussman at the 2023 International Communication Association Conference

May 23, 2023

Ten graduate students, eight faculty members, Dean Raul Reis, one staff member and various alumni will represent the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media May 25-29 at the 73rd annual International Communication Association Conference, held in Toronto. These scholars will participate in panel sessions and present authored or co-authored papers.

Carolina alumni, students and faculty are invited to attend a reception hosted by the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life, along with UNC Hussman and the Department of Communication, Friday, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at CRAFT.

Assistant Professor Xinyan (Eva) Zhao (pictured, left) has six papers on the ICA agenda, with various co-authors. Associate Professor Nori Comello is the lead author on a top paper featuring six school-affiliated collaborators. Those and other UNC Hussman faculty and student activities at ICA include:

Awards and honors

  • Nori Comello; Ph.D. students Shelby Lake and Jacob Thompson; and alumnae Diane Francis ’16 (Ph.D.), Jeanette Porter ’18 (Ph.D.) and Jasmine Gray ’21 (Ph.D.); and colleagues won a top-paper award for their paper “Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programming as a health communication issue: Shared frameworks and calls to action.”

Friday, May 26

  • Raul Reis will moderate the Council of Communication Associations Panel "More Than Who: Evaluating Authenticity Through Media Literacy Habits" exploring how media literacy practices can help students and news consumers of all ages evaluate authenticity of sources through personal inquiry.
  • Amanda Reid and Ph.D. students Evan Ringel and Shanetta Pendleton will present “Legitimacy, purpose, and publics: A content analysis of Big Tech transparency reports.”
  • Xinyan (Eva) Zhao and colleagues will present “A temporal approach to online discussion during disasters: Applying SIR infectious disease model to predict topic growth and examining effects of temporal distance.”
  • M.A. student Clay Williams will present “How does it make them feel: Stereotypes and over-sexualization of gay men in the media.”
  • Xinyan (Eva) Zhao and colleagues will present “What drives believing, verifying, and sharing fake news: Motivated reasoning, analytical thinking disposition, and conspiracy mentality.”
  • Nori Comello; Ph.D. students Shelby Lake and Jacob Thompson; and alumnae Diane Francis ’16 (Ph.D.), Jeanette Porter ’18 (Ph.D.) and Jasmine Gray ’21 (Ph.D.); and colleagues will present “Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programming as a health communication issue: Shared frameworks and calls to action.”

Saturday, May 27

  • Xinyan (Eva) Zhao and colleagues will present “Explore evacuation communication and experiences during a flood emergency in Canada: A qualitative study with an extension of the STOPS model.”
  • Daniel Kreiss and colleague will present “Hijacked: Victimhood as a political communication strategy in the presidential rhetoric of Viktor Orbán and Donald Trump.”
  • Lucinda Austin, Seoyeon Kim ’19 (Ph.D.), Pablo Miño ’22 (Ph.D.) and colleague will present “Perceptions of corporate social advocacy at an international scale: Evidence from Chile, South Korea, and the United States.”
  • Xinyan (Eva) Zhao and colleague will present “Transformer- and lexicon-based sentiment analysis as a web service.”
  • Ph.D. students Andrea Lorenz, Daniel Malmer, Carolyn Schmitt ’23 (M.A.), and Shannon McGregor will present “CNN CAN KISS MY AS$”: Describing hyperpartisan U.S. news consumers from a 10k sample.”
  • Ph.D. student Shelby Lake will present “The role of news coverage in constructing the putative voter: A critical discourse analysis of local news coverage of same-sex marriage.”
  • Lee McGuigan will present “Optimization takes command: Management technique, from the military to Madison Avenue.”

Sunday, May 28

  • Cara Schumann ’23 (M.A.) and Shannon McGregor will present “Examining racial differences in concerns about online polarization.”
  • Deb Aikat will serve on the panel “Reclaiming authenticity in communication: Media research on South Asia and its diaspora worldwide.”
  • Lee McGuigan will present “Adtech flows: Claims and logistics in digital advertising.”

Monday, May 29

  • Ph.D. students Parker Bach and Carolyn Schmitt ’23 (M.A.), and Shannon McGregor will present “Let me be perfectly unclear: A concept explication of strategic ambiguity.”
  • Center for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media Research Director Jessica Mahone will moderate the panel “Beyond ‘News Deserts’ Framing: A Global View of Local Journalism Research and Engagement.”
  • Xinyan (Eva) Zhao and colleague will present “Examining the dynamics of interpersonal communication networks for disaster coping among a multiethnic community.”
  • Xinyan (Eva) Zhao, Ph.D. student Jessica Shaw and colleague will present “How discrete emotions affect the processing of narrative misinformation: Roles of anger and sadness.”


More details about this conference can be found on the event website.

Toronto photo courtesy Flickr user Jeremy (CC BY-NC 2.0).