Journalism Research

Focus

The lab’s research focuses on the challenges to journalists in the Global South; the influence of religion, ethnicity and ideology on journalism; and the ways in which media drives global narratives around people, policy and international relations.

Current Research Projects

• Early stage: The motivations of journalism students in crisis zones. A broad multi-national survey is being carried out in the Balkans, Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.
• Two joint research projects involving Murrow and Serbian faculty will be carried out in 2024
  • Topic #1: TBD, likely involving journalist security
  • Topic #2 TBD, likely involving disinformation

Past Research

• Islamophobia in the 2018 Election. Pintak led a team in a large data study of the impact of Islamophobia on Muslim candidates in the 2018 midterm elections. The project analyzed hundreds of thousands of tweets and Facebook comments, along with thousands of news articles from around the world, to map international Islamophobic networks, the link between Islamophobia and xenophobia, and the anti-Muslim media ecosystem.
  • Made possible by more than $360,000 in grants from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Carnegie Corporation of NY, Ford Foundation, Proteus Fund, the Social Science Research Council, and AEJMC.

Resulting publications (Co-authors Lawrence Pintak, Brian J. Bowe, Jonathan Albright):

• #Islamophobia: Stoking Fear & Prejudice in the 2018 Midterms. Social Science Research Council white paper. Nov. 5, 2019
• New York Times op-ed, “The Online Cacophony of Hate Against Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.”
• “Influencers, Amplifiers, and Icons: A Systematic Approach to Understanding the Roles of Islamophobic Actors on Twitter.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. Online First, July 2021. ISI^© impact factor: 4.749.

Other past publications:

• Pintak, Lawrence; Bowe, Brian J.; Nazir, Syed Javed. “Mediatization in Pakistan: Perceptions of Media Influence on a Fragile Democracy.” Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism. Vol. 19, 7: pp. 934-958. Online First, August 2016. ISI^© impact factor: 1.273.
• Pintak, Lawrence. “Islam, Identity and Professional Values: A study of journalists in three Muslim-majority regions.” Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism. Vol. 15, No. 4, 2014. ISI^© impact factor: 1.287.
• Pintak, Lawrence; Nazir, Syed Javed. “Pakistani Journalism: At the Crossroads of Muslim Identity, National Priorities and Journalistic Culture.” Media, Culture & Society. Vol. 35, No. 5, July 2013. ISI^© impact factor 1.092.
• Pintak, Lawrence; Setiyono, Budi. “The Mission of Indonesian Journalism: Balancing democracy, development and Islamic values.” International Journal Press/Politics (Vol. 16, No. 2, April 2011). ISI^© impact factor 1.872.
• Pintak, Lawrence. “Border Guards of the ‘Imagined’ Watan: Arab Journalists and the New Arab Consciousness.” Middle East Journal (Vol. 63, No. 2; Spring 2009). ISI^© impact factor 0.69.
• Pintak, Lawrence; Ginges, Jeremy. “Inside the Arab Newsroom: Arab journalists evaluate themselves and the competition.” Journalism Studies (Vol. 10, No. 2, Apr. 2009). One of the most downloaded articles in 2009. ISI^© impact factor 1.044. Affiliated with ICA and ECREA Journalism Studies Divisions.
• Pintak, Lawrence; Ginges, Jeremy. “The Mission of Arab Journalism: Creating change in a time of turmoil.” International Journal Press/Politics (Vol. 13, No. 3, July 2008). ISI^© impact factor 1.872.