Robert E. Gutsche, Jr.
About
PhD University of Iowa (Mass Communication)
MS Concordia University Wisconsin (Student Personnel Administration)
BA University of Wisconsin-Madison (Journalism)
AA University of Wisconsin-Richland (General Education),
Email: rgutsche@fau.edu
Areas of Expertise: Critical Journalism Studies; Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Practice-led Research; Political and Environmental Communication
Following a career in journalism where I reported for The Washington Post, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, The Guardian, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and other regional and local news outlets in the U.S., I am a researcher who aims to uncover strategies and means of communicating complex social and cultural issues through media. My research explores cultures of journalism and political and environmental communication, digital where applicable – and digital is increasingly almost always involved in our messaging.
Specifically, I apply critical and Cultural Studies approaches to how content creators -- particularly journalists (and the institution and culture(s) of journalism, itself) -- operate as both power and change agents while adopting and reproducing authoritative and hegemonic explanations for local and world events. My critiques are, in the end, a search for how to make “journalism better.”
In addition to my work at FAU, I am also Honorary Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Informatics at Vytautas Magnus University, in Lithuania. Previously, I served as Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer in Critical Digital Media Practice) at Lancaster University in the U.K. There, I helped develop and oversaw academic programs in journalism and communication at University Academy 92 in Manchester, U.K., a joint public-private initiative with Lancaster University in Manchester that serves students from diverse backgrounds. Prior to that, I served as Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism + Media at Florida International University, where I taught largely in its former Digital Media Studies program, researching and teaching immersive media cultures, entrepreneurialism in digital media and journalism, and about cultures associated with surveillance, social movements, and media systems.
Recent Publications
Journalism and Reporting Synergistic Effects of Climate Change. Routledge: London (2024).
“Exploring ‘ideological correction’ in digital news updates of Portland protests & police violence,” Journalism, 2023
"Cultures of digital architectures: Power and positionalities in the backend of online journalism production," Journal of Communication Inquiry, 2022
Edited special issue on inequalities of sustainability, Journal of Environmental Media, 2022
“‘Good Morning COVID!’: The inertia of journalistic imaginaries in morning shows’ online comments," Journalism, 2022
Book: The Future of the Presidency, Journalism, and Democracy: After Trump. Routledge: London (2022).
Special Issue of Journal of Environmental Media on inequalities of sustainability, 2022
Open Access Articles: " Exploring “ideological correction” in digital news updates of Portland protests & police violence," Journalism, 2023
"Cultures of digital architectures: Power and positionalities in the backend of online journalism production," Journal of Communication Inquiry, 2022
"“Good Morning COVID!": The inertia of journalistic imaginaries in morning shows’ online comments," Journalism, 2022
Courses
DIG 2202 Digital Culture
MMC 4127C/POS 4931 Political Podcasting
MMC 4930 Socio-Digital Disruptions
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