By Casey Hendrickson
On November 16th, The School of Arts and Communication hosted a pillar presentation within its fall, 2018, faculty-led lecture series featuring Professor John C. Pollock, PhD, discussing the topic, “What Shapes Human Rights Coverage? What Journalists Wish They Had Learned in College.”
“How much do you follow your own dreams?” Dr. Pollock notably began, followed with, “How much do you follow the dreams of others?”
Dr. Pollock embarked on his own career negotiating his dreams and the dreams of others when he transitioned from a major in physics to exploring opportunities for social change, winding up in the social sciences – initially political science and sociology, currently communication studies and public health. He encouraged students to think of their majors and careers as a series of prototypes, suggesting that initial versions can always be improved upon. He also emphasized the importance of having multiple dreams, or odysseys, in one’s life.
“Odysseys are quests. They are passions,” Pollock explained. “If one doesn’t work out, you also have another two.”
One of Dr. Pollock’s odysseys is studying media coverage of emerging human rights issues through research. In particular, he has been studying issues of transcendent political and social importance through the lens of his own Community Structure Theory in collaboration with students at the College for over two decades.
Dr. Pollock’s research asks the question, “How do journalists choose some media frames rather than others in deciding how to report on emerging human rights issues?”
His research with students has led to identifying multiple patterns in newspaper coverage linked to variations in community demographics. These overarching patterns include most notably: buffer (positive coverage of human rights linked to higher proportions of privileged groups in a community); violated buffer (higher proportions of privileged groups linked to negative coverage of biological threats or threats to a cherished way of life); vulnerability (coverage mirroring the interests of society’s most marginalized groups); and stakeholder (coverage reflecting stakeholder interests according to their proportions in a community).
“These hypotheses correspond with new roles for journalists,” Dr. Pollock explains. “I am suggesting journalists should not only recognize the roles that they play, based on the patterns we’ve found, but also embrace them.”
This student-faculty led research extends beyond the classroom through “commando” mentoring, an approach meant to generate a high level of student commitment to their projects. Through coaching, motivation, and guidance, Dr. Pollock is able to help his students reach a professional level of research that has produced impressive outcomes. For instance, over 130 of the student-written, refereed research papers have been presented at state, regional, national, and international conferences, and published student articles or chapters co-authored with Dr. Pollock number over 30.
Students working with Dr. Pollock on this research have gained admission to a multitude of highly recognized graduate and professional schools such as Johns Hopkins, Columbia, NYU, The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, the Newhouse School of Syracuse University, and the University of Pennsylvania.
“You should think of yourselves on a hero’s journey,” Pollock suggested to the freshmen. “What questions will you ask in your own lives?”