About

The primary goal of my research is to produce knowledge about the sociology of news production and the challenges and opportunities facing news organizations and journalists working in the digital age. Specifically, I examine under-studied forms of news media, including local media, alternative media, and feminist media, and their potential to spur social change through content and reader interaction.

My CV is available here: Joy Jenkins CV

For my doctoral dissertation at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, I conducted a qualitative case study, including participant observation, interviews, and document analysis, of a publication aiming to serve both market and public service functions. This case study examined a local media organization — D, owner of D Magazine, the city magazine in Dallas, Texas, and other Dallas-related publications — to explore how staff members discursively constructed their journalistic identity within a geographically focused media organization. The study also considered the relationship between journalistic identity and organizational identity by addressing how the staff members describe their surrounding community and their publication’s role within it, including the magazine’s focus on participating in community-development efforts, and how those understandings shape the news organization and its members.

As a postdoctoral research fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, I am using qualitative methods to study how local and regional newspapers in four European countries are adapting to changes facing the news industry. The project addresses the value, influence, and future of local journalism from the perspectives of staff members working in both the editorial and business sides of these newspapers. It also examines how they understand and respond to shifts in audience behavior and media markets and how both are influenced by the move toward an increasingly digital, mobile, and platform-dominated media environment. Learn more about this project here.

Prior to pursuing my Ph.D., I served as senior editor at TulsaPeople Magazine (2005-2012) and copy editor at the Oklahoma Gazette (2004-2005).

I received a Master of Science in Mass Communication/Media Management from Oklahoma State University in 2011 and Bachelor of Arts in journalism (summa cum laude) from the University of Oklahoma in 2004.