McNair Scholar 2024 - Jessica Sosa
Jessica Sosa is a senior at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, majoring in Strategic Communications & Public relations and Minoring in Leadership & Italian. Her research interests revolve around Health communications, Public Health, and Media Manipulation & Disinformation. Ms.Sosa plans on getting her Ph.D. in Mass Communications.
Quote from Jessica Sosa
My dream is to pursue a Ph.D. in Mass Communications with the goal of teaching and empowering underrepresented communities to receive resources and gain confidence in their health and wellness. My purpose is to develop resources, work on communication tools, and produce research to help communities stay aware and understand health and wellness
Research project
Spotlight on Suicide: A Content Analysis of Online News Media Coverage of Celebrity Suicide Death, 2012-2023
Abstract
Numerous studies have found correlational evidence between the increase of suicide rates and the reporting of a celebrity suicide. The phenomenon is called the copycat effect. To combat the copycat effect, several public health organizations created the Recommendations for Reporting on Suicide (RRS), which provides guidance on good- (e.g., providing prevention information) and poor-reporting practices (e.g., including suicide in the headline). Previous content analyses have found that news organizations do not typically adhere to the RRS. The current study expands on this research by analyzing 497 online news stories of 96 celebrity suicide deaths from 2012 - 2023 from six news organizations. Preliminary results indicate that the news organizations generally did not adhere to the good reporting recommendations. High numbers of poor reporting practices were not found, but content which describes the method of suicide, information influential to the copycat effect, was found in 60% of the news coverage.
Faculty mentor
Dr. Susan LoRusso is an Associate Professor in the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. Her research and teaching focuses on information literacy, misinformation, and health communication. Dr. LoRusso earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota and is a former McNair Scholar (UW-Stout, ‘12).