Stephanie Edgerly

(She/Her)

Professor and Associate Dean of Research

Phone:847-467-2528Email:stephanie.edgerly@northwestern.eduOffice: MFC 3-139

Stephanie Edgerly is a professor with a specialization in audience insight. She is also the associate dean of research at Medill. Her research explores how features of new media alter the way audiences consume news and impact engagement. She is particularly interested in the mixing of news and entertainment content, how individuals and groups create and share news over social media, and how audiences selectively consume media. Recent projects have explored why people don't consume news and the varied ways that people make sense of the larger media environment.

Stephanie's research has garnered several recent honors. In 2020, her article "Deciding What's News: News-ness as an Audience Concept for the Hybrid Media Environment" won the "Outstanding Article" award in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. In 2018, her publication about patterns of news consumption among U.S. teenagers was a finalist for the award. In 2019, Stephanie was awarded the inaugural Sharon Dunwoody Early Career Award from the University of Wisconsin. In 2020, she was named the 19^th recipient of the Walder Award for Research Excellence at Northwestern University. She is the only journalism faculty member to receive the honor.

Stephanie is a speaker in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs as an expert in journalism. She has traveled to Belgium, the United Kingdom, Denmark, China, Greece, and the Philippines to talk with government officials, news organizations, and students about issues related to fake news, news media trust, and news media literacy. Stephanie is also Fellow in the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication and a Faculty Associate at Northwestern's Institute for Policy Research.

Education

Prior to joining the Medill faculty in 2012, Edgerly earned her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She also holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received a B.A. degree in communication and political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Awards And Honors

Fellow, Academic Leadership Program (ALP), Office of the Provost, Northwestern University. 2022-23.
Reviewer of the Year, Mass Communication and Society. 2020
Winner, Outstanding Article Award 2020, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly
Martin E. and Gertrude G. Walder Award for Research Excellence, Office of the Provost, Northwestern University, 2020
Top Faculty Paper, Political Communication division, NCA, 2020
Sharon Dunwoody Early Career Award. School of Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2019
Finalist, Outstanding Article Award 2018, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly
S. Speaker Program, Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State, 2017-present
Top Faculty Paper, Children, Adolescents, and Media division, ICA, 2015
Fellow, Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication, 2015

Publications

Edgerly, S. (2022). Audience sensemaking: A mapping approach. Digital Journalism, 10(1), 165-187.

Suk, J., Shah, D., Bode, L., Edgerly, S., Thorson, K., Vraga, E. K., Wells, C., & Pevehouse, J. (2022). Political events in a partisan media ecology: Asymmetric influence on candidate appraisals. Mass Communication and Society. Online first publication.

Walter, N., Edgerly, S., & Saucier, C. (2021). Trust, then verify: When and why people fact-check partisan information. International Journal of Communication 15, 4734-4754.

Nelson, J. L. & Edgerly, S. (2021). The (ir)relevance of audience studies in journalism education. Journalism and Mass Communication Educator. Online first publication.

Edgerly, S. (2021). The head and heart of news avoidance: How attitudes about the news media relate to levels of news consumption. Journalism. Online first publication.

Edgerly, S. & Thorson, K. (2020). Political communication and public opinion: Innovative research for the digital media age. Public Opinion Quarterly, 84, 189-194. [Special issue editorial]

Edgerly, S. & Vraga, E. K. (2020). That’s not news: Audience perceptions of ‘news-ness’ and why it matters. Mass Communication & Society, 23(5), 730-754.

Edgerly, S. & Vraga, E. K. (2020). Deciding what’s news: News-ness as an audience concept for the hybrid media environment. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 72(2), 416-434. Winner, JMCQ Outstanding Article Award 2020.

Edgerly, S., Mourao, R., Thorson. E., & Tham, S. (2020). When do audiences verify? How perceptions about message and source influence audience verification of news headlines. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 97(1), 52-71.

Edgerly, S. & Vraga, E. K. (2019). News, entertainment, or both? Exploring audience perceptions of media genre in a hybrid media environment. Journalism, 20(6), 807-826.

Edgerly, S. & Vraga, E. K. (2019). The blue check of credibility: Does account verification matter when evaluating news on Twitter? Accepted for publication at Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 22(4), 283-287.

Edgerly, S., Thorson, K., & Wells, C. (2018). Young citizens, social media, and the dynamics of political learning in the U.S. presidential primary. American Behavioral Scientist, 62(8), 1041-1060.

Bode, L., Edgerly, S., Wells, C., Gabay, I., Franklin, C., Friedland, L., & Shah, D.V. (2018). Participation in contentious politics: Rethinking the roles news, social media, and conversation amid divisiveness. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 15(3), 215-229.

Thorson, K., Xu, Y., & Edgerly, S. (2018). Political inequalities start at home: Parents, children and the socialization of civic infrastructure online. Political Communication, 35, 178-195.

Taneja, H., Wu, A. X., & Edgerly, S. (2018). Rethinking the generational gap in online news use: An infrastructural perspective. New Media & Society, 20(5), 1792-1812.

Edgerly, S., Thorson, K., Thorson, E., Vraga, E. K., & Bode, L. (2018). Do parents still model news consumption? Socializing news use among adolescents in a multi-device world. New Media & Society, 20(4), 1263-1281.

Edgerly, S., Vraga, E. K., Bode, L., Thorson, K., & Thorson, E. (2018). New media, new relationship to participation? A closer look at youth news repertories and political participation. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 95(1), 192-212. Finalist, JMCQ Outstanding Article Award 2018.

Edgerly, S. (2017). Making sense and drawing lines: Young adults and the mixing of news and entertainment. Journalism Studies, 18(8), 1052-1069.

Wells, C., Cramer, K., Wagner, M. W., Alvarez, G., Friedland, L. A., Shah, D. V., Bode, L., Edgerly, S., Gabay, I., & Franklin, C. (2017). When we stop talking politics: The maintenance and closing of conversation in contentious times. Journal of Communication, 67, 131-157.

Edgerly, S. (2017). Seeking out and avoiding the news media: Young adults’ proposed strategies for obtaining current events information. Mass Communication & Society, 20(3), 358-377.

Edgerly, S., Gotlieb, M. R., & Vraga, E. K. (2016). “That show really spoke to me!”: The effects of compatible psychological needs and talk show host style on audience activity. International Journal of Communication, 10, 1950-1970.

Edgerly, S., Thorson, K., Bighash, L., & Hannah, M. (2016). Posting about politics: Media as resources for political expression on Facebook. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 13, 108-125.

Thorson, K., Edgerly, S., Vilenchik, N. K., Xu, Y., & Wang, L. (2016). Seeking visibility in a big tent: Digital communication and the people’s climate march. International Journal of Communication, 10, 4784-4806.

Edgerly, S. (2015). Red media, blue media, and purple media: News repertoires in the colorful media landscape. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 59, 1-21.

Edgerly, S. Vraga, E. K., McLaughlin, B., Alvarez, G., Yang, J., & Kim Y.M. (2014). Navigational structure & information selection goals: A closer look at online selectivity. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 58 (4), 542-561.

Vraga, E. K., Bode, L., Yang, J., Edgerly, S., Thorson, K., Wells, C., & Shah, D. V. (2014). Political influence across candidate evaluations in the 2008 election. Information, Communication & Society, 17, 184-202.

Edgerly, S., Vraga, E. K., Dalrymple, K., Macafee, T, & Fung, T. (2013). Directing the dialogue: The relationship between YouTube videos and the comments that they spur. Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 10, 276-292.

Borah, P., Edgerly, S., Vraga, E.K., & Shah, D.V. (2013). Hearing and Talking to the Other Side: Antecedents of Cross-Cutting Exposure. Mass Communication & Society, 16, 391-416.

Thorson, K., Driscoll, K., Ekdale, B., Edgerly, S., Gamber Thompson, L., Schrock, A., Swartz, L., Vraga, E., & Wells, C. (2013). YouTube, Twitter, and the Occupy Movement: Connecting content to circulation practices. Information, Communication & Society, 16, 421-451.

Kim, Y. M., Wang, M., Gotlieb, M. R., Gabay, I., & Edgerly, S. (2013). Ambivalence reduction and polarization in the campaign information environment: The interaction between individual-level and contextual-level influences. Communication Research, 40 (3), 388-416.

Vraga, E. K., Edgerly, S., Bode, L., Carr, D. J., Bard, M., Johnson, C., Kim, Y. M., & Shah, D. V. (2012). The correspondent, the comic, and the combatant: The consequences of host style in political talk shows. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 89, 5-22.

Gunther, A. C., Edgerly, S., Akin, H., & Broesch, J. A. (2012). Partisan evaluation of partisan press. Communication Research, 39, 439-457.

Vraga, E. K., Edgerly, S., Wang, B. M., & Shah, D. V. (2011). Who taught me that? Repurposed news, blog structure, and source identification. Journal of Communication, 61, 795-815

Book Chapters

Edgerly, S. (2021). News consumers (and non-consumers). In V. Belair-Gagnon and N. Usher (Eds.), Journalism Research That Matters (pp. 103-114). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Edgerly, S. (2020). YouTube as a space for news. U.S. Election Analysis 2020: Media, Voters and the Campaign.

Edgerly, S. (2020). Audience activity model. In J. Van den Bulck (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology. Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

Gotlieb, M. R., & Edgerly, S. (2020). Civic engagement (Putnam, 2000). In J. Van den Bulck (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology. Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.

Edgerly, S. (2018). A new generation of satire consumers? A socialization approach to youth exposure to news satire. In J. C. Baumgartner & A. B. Becker (Eds.), Political Humor in a Changing Media Landscape: A New Generation of Research (pp. 253-272). Lexington Books.

Thorson, K. & Edgerly, S. (2017). Civic engagement through media. In P. Roessler (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Effects (pp. 109-119). Wiley-Blackwell publishing.

Edgerly, S. & Thorson, K. (2016). Developing media preferences in a Post-Broadcast Democracy. In E. Thorson, M.S. McKinney, & D.V. Shah (Eds.), Political Socialization in a Media Saturated World (pp. 375-391). Peter Lang Publishing.

Bode, L., Vraga, E. K., Yang, J., Edgerly, S., Thorson, K., Shah, D. V., & Wells, C. (2016). Political engagement within parent-child dyads: Rethinking the transmission model of socialization in digital media environments. In C. Klofstadt, C. (Ed.), Resources, Engagement, and Recruitment: New Advances in the Study of Civic Voluntarism (pp. 127-144). Temple University Press.

Wells, C., Vraga, E. K., Thorson, K., Edgerly, S., & Bode, L. (2015). Youth civic engagement. In S. Coleman & D. Freelon (Eds.), Handbook of Digital Politics (pp. 199-220). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Edgerly, S., Bode, L., Kim, Y., & Shah, D. V. (2013). Campaigns go social: Are Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter changing elections? In T. N. Ridout (Ed.) New Directions in Media & Politics (pp. 82-99). Routledge Publishing.

Bode, L., Edgerly, S., Vraga, E. K., Sayre, B., & Shah, D. V. (2013). Digital democracy: How the Internet has changed politics. In A. Valdivia & E. Scharrer (Eds.) International Encyclopedia of Media Studies – Media Effects/Media Psychology (pp. 505-524). Blackwell Publishing.