Associate Professor

About

Biography

Dr. David Wolfgang studies journalism, media sociology, and public discourse. He teaches Communication Law, Media in Society, Qualitative Research Methods, Social and Cultural Communication Theory, and a graduate seminar in media sociology. His work examines the relationship between journalists and their audiences, journalist role conceptions, representations of minority groups in media, political communication, and new media. He uses textual analysis, ethnography, interviews, and survey methods, and his research has appeared in Journalism, Journalism Studies, Journalism Practice, Digital Journalism, and the Journal of Public Deliberation.

Dr. Wolfgang holds a Ph.D. in Journalism (2016), J.D. (2012), and M.A. in Journalism (2011) from the University of Missouri, as well as a B.A. in Contemporary Media and Journalism (2008) from the University of South Dakota. He welcomes inquiries from prospective graduate students interested in research on journalism, media, and public discourse.

Beyond teaching and research, Dr. Wolfgang serves as advisor to the student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, is a board member of the Rocky Mountain Student Media Corporation, and is the faculty leader for the department’s summer International Travel Journalism course in Croatia.

Publications

Jenkins, J. & Wolfgang, J.D. (In Press). "A Gut Punch to the Soul": Fan Responses to Rape Depictions in Popular TV Shows. In R. Beliveau & L. Funnell (Eds.) Streaming #MeToo. McFarland Press.

Wolfgang, J.D. (2022). When Fringe Hate Goes Mainstream: How white nationalist discourse manifests in online news commenting. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 46(2), 117-137.

Wolfgang, J.D. (2022). Marketplace of Ideas. In Harris, P., Bitoni, A., Fleisher, C.S., & Skorkjær, A.B. (Eds.). The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Interest Groups, Lobbying and Public Affairs. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Wolfgang, J.D., Vos, T.P., Kelling, K., & Shin, S. (2021). Political Journalism and Democracy: How journalists reflect political viewpoint diversity in their reporting. Journalism Studies, 22(10), 1339-1357.

Ferrucci, P., & Wolfgang, J. (2021). Inside or Out? Perceptions of how differing types of comment moderation impact practice. Journalism Studies, 22(8), 1010-1027.

Wolfgang, J.D. (2021). Taming the “trolls”: How journalists negotiate the boundaries of journalism and online comments. Journalism, 22(1), 139-156.

Bhandari, M., Emery, M., Scott, S., & Wolfgang, J.D. (2021). Effects of Online Commenter Sex Cues and News Receiver Sex on Commenter Credibility. Newspaper Research Journal, 42(4), 526-542.

Wolfgang, J.D., & Bhandari, M. (2020). Commenter and News Source Credibility: Roles of news media literacy, comment argument strength and civility. Southwestern Mass Communication Journal, 36(1), 29-49.

Wolfgang, J.D., Blackburn, H., & McConnell, S. (2020). Keepers of the comments: How comment moderators handle audience contributions. Newspaper Research Journal.

Wolfgang, J.D., McConnell, S., & Blackburn, H. (2020). Commenters as a threat to journalism? How comment moderators perceive the role of the audience. Digital Journalism, 8(7), 925-944.

Houston, J.B., McKinney, M., Thorson, E., Hawthorne, J., Wolfgang, J.D., & Swasy, A. (2020). The Twitterization of Journalism: User Perceptions of News Tweets. Journalism.

Wolfgang, J.D., Vos, T., & Kelling, K. (2019). Journalism's Relationship to Democracy: Roles, attitudes, and practices. Journalism Studies, 20(14), 1977-1994.

Wolfgang, J.D. (2019). Online Comments and Journalism. In Örnebring, H. (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Wolfgang, J.D. (2019). Commenters as political actors infringing on the field of journalism. Journalism Studies, 20(8), 1149-1166.

Wolfgang, J.D., & Jenkins, J. (2018). Crafting a Community: Staff members’ conceptions of audience at a city magazine. Community Journalism.

Wolfgang, J.D. (2018). How Commenters Use Online Forums as Spaces for Journalism’s Boundary Work. Newspaper Research Journal.

Wolfgang, J.D. (2018). Cleaning up the “Fetid Swamp”: Examining how journalists construct policies and practices for moderating comments. Digital Journalism.

Vos, T.P., & Wolfgang, J.D. (2018). Journalists’ Normative Constructions of Political Viewpoint Diversity. Journalism Studies.

Jenkins, J., & Wolfgang, J.D. (2018). The Naked Truth: An analysis of postfeminism in media discourse in response to the Kardashians’ nude magazine images. In C. Madere (Ed.) Star Power: The Media Effects of America’s Celebrity Culture.

Jenkins, J. & Wolfgang, J.D. (2018). A Space for Women: Online Commenting Forums as Indicators of Civility and Feminist Community-Building. In J. Vickery & T. Everbach (Eds.) Mediating Misogyny: Gender, Technology, and Harassment. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Jenkins, J., & Wolfgang, J.D. (2018). Feminized Faith: The intersectionality of religion and gender in “Orange is the New Black.” In K. Foss (Ed.) Demystifying the Big House: Exploring Prison Experience and Media Representations. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois Press.

Thomas, R.J., Kelling, K., Wolfgang, J.D., & Greenwood, K. (2018). Discourses of Compassion British Newspapers and the Alan Kurdi Image. In R. Thomas & M.G. Antony (Eds.) Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Child Migrants: Seen but Not Heard. Lanham, MD: Lexington.

Jenkins, J., & Wolfgang, J.D. (2017). A Place to Protest: Assessing alternative newsweeklies’ ideal roles and creation of alternative publics. Journalism Practice, 4(6), 960-979.

Wolfgang, J.D. (2016). Pursuing the Ideal: How news website commenting policies structure public discourse. Digital Journalism 4(6), 764-783.

Ferrucci, P., Tandoc, E., Painter, C., & Wolfgang, J.D. (2016). Foul Ball: Audience-held stereotypes of baseball players. The Howard Journal of Communications 27(1), 68-84.

Craft, S., Vos, T.P., & Wolfgang, J.D. (2016). Reader Comments as Press Criticism: Implications for the journalistic field. Journalism: Theory, Practice, & Criticism 17(6), 677-693.

Wolfgang, J.D. (2015). Opening the Marketplace: A case for the protection of anonymous online comments. In B. Vanacker & D. Heider (Eds.) Ethics for a Digital Age. New York: Peter Lang.

Wolfgang, J.D., & Jenkins, J. (2015). Diverse Discourse: Analyzing the potential of public affairs magazine online forums to reflect qualities of the public sphere. Journal of Public Deliberation, 11(1), Article 5, 1-26.