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Johanna Dunaway

Johanna Dunaway

Contact Information:

jldunawa@syr.edu

Johanna Dunaway

Professor, Political Science Department


Research Director, Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship

Courses

  • 2024 Fall
    • PSC 700 Selected Topics - Political Behavior
  • 2024 Spring
    • PSC 470 Experience Credit

Highest degree earned

Ph.D., Rice University, 2006

Bio

Johanna Dunaway is a professor of political science in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and is research director of the Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship (IDJC) in Washington, D.C. She will teach classes in American politics, political communications, public opinion and mass media.

She joins Syracuse University from Texas A&M University’s Department of Political Science, where she was a professor. Her previous roles also include serving as the Joan Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics and Public Policy, and serving as an associate and assistant professor in Louisiana State University’s Department of Political Science and Manship School of Mass Communication. She began her academic teaching career on the faculty of  Sam Houston State University’s Department of Political Science.

Dunaway’s awards include the shared 2019 Walter Lippmann Best Published Article Award from the American Political Science Association’s Political Communication Division and the shared 2018 Lynda Lee Kaid Best Published Article in Political Communication from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Political Communication Division. 

Dunaway earned a Ph.D. (2006) and an M.A. (2004) in political science, both from Rice University, and a B.A. in political science in 1999 from the University of North Texas. 

Areas of Expertise

Political Communication, News Media and Politics, Local News, Partisan Polarization, Political Attitudes, and Behavior.

Research Grant Awards and Projects

"Nationalized News Increases Polarization and Weakens Democratic Norms.", Sponsored by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Selected Publications

  • Books
  • Journal Articles
    • Collier, J., Stroud, N. J. and Dunaway, J. L., "Pathways to Deeper News Engagement: Factors Influencing Click Behaviors on News Sites." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 2021.
    • Ploger, G., Dunaway, J. L., Fournier, P. and Soroka, S. N., "The psychophysiological correlates of cognitive dissonance." Politics and the Life Sciences, 2021.
    • Darr, J. P., Dunaway, J. L., Perry, B. and Sui, M., "Seeing Spanish: The Effects of Language Based Media Choices on Resentment and Belonging." Political Communication, 2020.
    • Padgett, J., Dunaway, J. L. and Darr, J. P., "As Seen on TV? How Gatekeeping Makes the U.S. House Seem More Extreme." Journal of Communication, 2019.
    • Dunaway, J. L., Dunaway, J. L. and Soroka, S. N., "Smartphone-size screens constrain cognitive access to video news stories." Information, Communication, & Society, 2019.
    • Arceneaux, K., Dunaway, J. L., Johnson, P. M. and Vander Wielen, R. J., "Strategic Candidate Entry and Congressional Elections in the Era of Fox News." American Journal of Political Science, 2019.
    • Arceneaux, K., Dunaway, J. L. and Soroka, S. N., "Elites are people, too: The effects of threat sensitivity on policymakers’ spending priorities." PloS one, 2018.
  • Book Chapters
    • Dunaway, J. L., Ray, N., "Communication Technology and Threats to Democracy: We the People are (Also) the Problem." In News Quality in the Platform Era. Lawrence, R., Napoli, P. (eds.) Routledge, 2023.
    • Dunaway, J. L., Settle, J. E., "Opinion Formation and Polarization in the News Feed Era: Effects from Digital, Social, and Mobile Media." In The Cambridge Handbook of Political Psychology. Osborne, D., Sibley, C. (eds.) Cambridge University Press, 2021.
    • Dunaway, J. L., "Polarisation and Misinformation." In The Routledge Companion to Media Disinformation and Populism. Tumber, H., Waisbord, S. (eds.) Routledge Press, 2021.
    • Dunaway, J. L., Searles, E., Fowler, E. F. and Ridout, T. N., "The Effects of Political Advertising: Assessing the Impact of Changing Technologies, Strategies, and Tactics." In Mediated Communication. Napoli, P. (ed.) Mouton de Gruyter, Handbook of Communication Science Series, 2018.
    • Dunaway, J. L., Searles, K., Sui, M. and Paul, N., "The Move to Mobile: What are the Consequences for Citizen News Attention?." In New Directions in Media and Politics. Ridout, T. N. (ed.) Routledge Press, 2018.
    • Dunaway, J. L., Goidel, R. K., "Causes and Consequences of Poll-Centered News Coverage in the Digital Age: An Exploratory Analysis." In By the People, For the People: The Meaning and Measurement of Public Opinion in a Digital Age. LSU Press, 2011.
    • Branton, R. P., Dillingham, G., Dunaway, J. L. and Miller, B., "Anglo Voting on Bilingual Education: the Partisan Nature of the Impact of Spatial Proximity to the Border of Mexico." In The Politics of Latino Education. Leal, D., Meier, K. (eds.) University of Texas Press, 2010.
  • Book Reviews
    • Hayes, D., Guardino, M. and Dunaway, J. L., "Influence from Abroad." Public Opinion Quarterly, 2014.
    • Schiffer, A. J., Dunaway, J. L., "Conditional Press Influence in Politics." Political Communication, 2008.
  • Essay
    • Dunaway, J. L., "Doris A. Graber’s Contributions to Political Communication." Political Communication, 2018.
  • Newspaper Articles
    • Darr, J. P., Hitt, M. P. and Dunaway, J. L., "Survey shows Desert Sun readers approve of local-news-only editorial page in July." Desert Sun, 2019.
    • Hitt, M. P., Darr, J. P. and Dunaway, J. L., "Why Losing Our Newspapers Is Breaking Our Politics." Scientific American, 2019.
    • Darr, J., Hitt, M. P. and Dunaway, J. L., "When newspapers close, voters become more partisan." The Conversation, 2019.
    • Dunaway, J. L., "Mobile vs. Computer: Implications for News Audiences and Outlets." In Discussion Paper Series D-103. Cambridge: Shorenstein Center, 2016.

Presentations and Events

Dunaway, J. L., Goidel, S., Shah, P., Annual Meeting of Midwestern Political Science Association , "Campaign Strategies of Black and Brown State Legislators" (April 13, 2023 - April 16, 2023)

Dutra, A. B., Goidel, S., Moreira , T., Dunaway, J. L., Annual Meeting of Midwestern Political Science Association , "Media Systems, Clarity of Responsibility, Corruption, and Political Accountability" (April 13, 2023 - April 16, 2023)

Dutra, A. B., Goidel, S., Moreira , T., Dunaway, J. L., Inaugural Meeting of APSA Section on Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior., American Political Science Association Section on Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior, "Media Systems, Clarity of Responsibility, Corruption, and Political Accountability" (March 2, 2023 - March 4, 2023)

Local News Researchers Workshop, UNC Hussman School of Journalism / Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy (February 15, 2023 - February 17, 2023)

Dunaway, J. L., Peterson, E., Social Science Research Council Workshop on Local News, SSRC and University of San Diego, "The New News Barons: Investment Ownership Reduces Newspaper Reporting Capacity" (January 19, 2023 - January 20, 2023)

Dunaway, J. L., Goidel, S., Shah, P., Annual Meeting of Southern Political Science Association , "Downplaying the Race Card: How Party Moderates Reference to Race in Strategic Campaign Communication" (January 11, 2023 - January 16, 2023)

Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) Lecture Series, University of Minnesota, "Nationalizing News Environment: Causes and Consequences" (October 6, 2022)

Arceneaux, K., Dunaway, J. L., Settle, J. E., Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, "Political Cue Taking on Social Media Among Teens" (September 16, 2022)

Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, "Fragmentation, Polarization, and National Identity" (September 13, 2022 - September 16, 2022)

University of Texas at Austin, Department of Government, "Internet Speed and Election Polling Error" (May 4, 2022)

Goidel, S., Dunaway, J. L., Annual Meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, "Variable Internet Speed Explains Gaps Between Polling Estimates and Election Returns" (May, 2022)

Goidel, S., Dunaway, J. L., Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association, "Variable Internet Speed Explains Gaps Between Polling Estimates and Election Returns" (May, 2022)

Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, "Media Consolidation and Media Choice" (April 7, 2022)

Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, "Revisiting the Fox News Effect" (April 7, 2022)

George Washington University, Department of Political Science, "Roundtable on Hayes and Lawless’s Book, Newshole: The Demise of Local Journalism and Political Engagement" (April, 2022)

Strengthening American Democracy Series, Florida State University Institute of Politics, "Challenges for News and Democracy in the Platform Era" (October 21, 2021)

CNPA Exclusive Webinar, "Home Style Opinion: What would happen if you dropped national politics from your opinion page?" (April 22, 2021)

Annual Mecting of the Southern Political Science Association, Institutions, Affect, and Governance (January 8, 2021)

Settle, J. E., Dunaway, J. L., Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, "Opinion Formation and Polarization in the News Feed Era: Effects from Digital, Social, and Mobile Media" (January 8, 2021)

News Quality in the Platform Era: A Media and Democracy Workshop, "Challenges for News and Democracy in the Platform Era: Technological Effects on Access, Exposure, Attention and Processing" (November 12, 2020 - November 13, 2020)

News Coverage of US Elections Media and Democracy Workshop, SSRC and Brooklyn Historical Society, "Navigating the Noise: Election Coverage in the Digital Age" (October 20, 2020)

Peterson, E., Dunaway, J. L., Virtual Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, "Changing Media Ownership and New News Barons" (September 12, 2020)

Darr, J., Hitt, M., Dunaway, J. L., Virtual Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, "Effects of Re-localizing a Local Newspaper: Results from a Natural Experiment" (September 12, 2020)

Groeling, T., Dunaway, J. L., Virtual Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, "Facebook News Exposure and Acceptance in the 2016 Election" (September 10, 2020)

Political Communication Pre-Conference, Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, "Elections, Media and Trust" (September 8, 2020)

Darr, J., Hitt, M., Dunaway, J. L., News Coverage of US Elections: A Media and Democracy Workshop, "A Path Through the Desert: Re-Localizing the News in a Nationalized Era" (July 22, 2020)

Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, "Empathy and Legislating" (September 1, 2019)

APSA Political Communication Pre-Conference, George Washington University, School of Media and Public Affairs (August 28, 2019)

Annual Meeting of the International Society for Political Psychology, "Does Personality Affect Legislative Behavior?" (July 12, 2019 - July 15, 2019)

Annual Meeting of the International Communication, "As Seen on TV: How Gatekeeping Makes the U.S. House Seem More Extreme" (May, 2019)

Tyler Junior College Students and Faculty and Area Journalists and High School Students, "No local news is not good news" (April 15, 2019)

Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, "The Impact of Skin Tone on Empathetic Responses to Refugee News" (April 5, 2019 - April 7, 2019)

Department of Political Science and Department of Communication, Temple University, "Gaining Access and Losing Information? Mobile Effects on News Attention and Recall" (April 2, 2019)

Sec- tion on Media and Politics, Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, Southern Political Science Association. Section Head and Organizer (2019)

Honors and Accolades

Common Ground Fellowship, TAMU, College of Liberal Arts (2018 - 2019)

Walter Lippmann Best Published Article Award, American Political Science Association, Political Communication Division (August 30, 2019)

Lynda Lee Kaid Best Published Article in Political Communication, Political Communication Division, AEJMC (2018)

Howard and Nantelle Mitchiner Gittinger Professorship, LSU Manship School (2015 - 2016)

William K. Bill Carville Professorship of Communication and Political Empowerment, LSU Manship School (2014 - 2015)