Katherine G. Fry

  Assc Professor
  Department: Television and Radio
  Location: 303b Whitehead Hall
  Phone: 718-951-5000 x2791
  Fax: 718-951-4418

  Email:
  Katherine G. Fry's Web site

I received my Ph.D. in communication and media studies from Temple University in 1994. Since then I've been teaching and publishing in the areas of media research and criticism; Television news; media culture and technologies; and advertising and popular culture. Currently I'm engaged in research that involves talking to audiences about how they define news. I'm also working within the borough of Brooklyn, developing media literacy curricula and running media literacy workshops for children, youth, adults and families.

Education:
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY - 1994 (Mass Media and Communication)

M.A., Temple University - 1989 (Mass Media and Communication)

B.A., University of Minnesota - 1985 (Journalism)

Areas of Expertise:
My areas of research expertise are in news, advertising and media literacy broadly. I'm particularly interested in how changes over time, in economics and in technology, change the very definition of news. I study the social and cultural implications of advertising, as well as its historical development. I also develop and implement media literacy workshops in the community at large.

Books and Publications
(2008) Fry, Katherine G., Identities in Context: Media, Myth, Religion in Time and Space. Edited volume with Barbara Jo Lewis. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. (Books and Publications: Edited Book) 2008

Fry, Katherine G. (2008). "News As Subject: What Is It? Where Is It? Whose Is It? The Virginia Tech Massacre as Case Study." In Journalism Studies, vol. 9 (no. 4). 545-560. (Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2008

Fry, Katherine G., Communication Technology and Psychological Well-Being: The Yin and Yang of Media, with George Rodman. In Techno-Well: The Impact of Technology on Psychological Well-Being, Yair Amichai-Hamburger (Ed.), Cambridge University Press. (Books and Publications: Chapter) 2008

Fry, Katherine G., Television News: Hero For New Orleans, Hero for the Nation. Space and Culture: the International Journal of Social Spaces, 9.1, 83-85, 2006.

(Books and Publications: Peer Reviewed Article) 2006

Fry, Katherine G., Constructing the Heartland: Television News and Natural Disaster. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. (2003).

(Books and Publications: Book) 2003

Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Awarded fellowship in the Ethyl R. Wolfe Institute for the Humanities for academic year 2007-2008. (Awards and Honors) 2007

Research Activities
New York City Focus Group moderator for The San Francisco State University Department of Journalism and its Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism national study: The Health of the Ethnic News Media: Needs and Opportunities, April, 2008.

2008

Examining News as the Genre and Technology Expand: Audience Participation and Evaluation. Ongoing focus group audience research project. 2007

PSC-CUNY Research Award, $3500.00, July, 2006, for Audience Evaluation of News in an Era of Electronic Media Revolution.

2006

Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
Invited speaker for "Change Through Media" panel for Young Women Social Entrepreneurs, Greenspace, New York (forthcoming: January 28, 2010). (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2010

Presenter on accepted panel: "New Directions in News Literacy: Effective Classroom Practices for News, Youth and Education," at the annual Northeast Media Literacy Conference, University of Connecticut (Storrs) (forthcoming: March 26, 2010). (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010

Chair and presenter on panel entitled, "New Directions in News Literacy," at the annual meeting of the New York State Communication Association. Paper title: "Evaluating Mothers Evaluating News: A News Literacy Approach, October, 2009." (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009

Conference talk/workshop, "Participatory Media and Technology," at the annual Mouse.org Educator's Conference. Rockefeller Center, New York City, April 30, 2009. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009

Forthcoming, "Mother Choices: Using and Evaluating News Sources in the Digital Age." paper presentation at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association, Chicago, Illinois, November, 2009. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009

Invited Talk as part of the Ethyl R. Wolfe Institute in the Humanities, Brooklyn College. "Mother Choices: Evaluating Moms Evaluating the News," Tanger Auditorium, Nov. 10, 2009. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2009

Presentation and screening, "The LAMP: Combining Academic and Activist Media LIteracy in New York City," for Media Conversations VI 2009: An International Conference of Youth, Media and Education, June 6, 2009, Fordham University, Lincoln Center campus. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009

Workshop and presentation: "Media Literacy is Medium Literacy," at the annual Northeast Media Literacy Conference. University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, April 3, 2009. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009

Paper presentation at the annual meeting of the New York State Communication Association, October. "From the Academy to the Streets: Creating Community-based Media Literacy (starting) in Brooklyn." (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008

"Audiences for News, the Morphing Genre: Virginia Tech as Case Study." Presentation at the annual meeting of the New York State Communication Association conference. October, 2007. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2007

Panelist, "Intersections for Communication Programs: Consequences and Constructs of Adding Majors to Minors and Minors to Majors," annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association, Providence, Rhode Island, April 27, 2007.

(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2007

Chair and respondent, Constructing Gender and Sexuality in International Television and Film, at annual meeting of the New York State Communication Association, Kerhonksen, New York, October, 2006. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2006

TV News as Advocate: Early coverage of Hurricane Katrina, at annual meeting of the Media Ecology Association, Boston, MA, June, 2006.

(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006

XIV International Economic History Congress, Helsinki, Finland, August, 2006.
Advertising And the Body to Advertising On the Body: A Socio-historical Look at Marketing of the Future.
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2006

Professional Leadership

2001- 2007 Deputy Chair, Dept. of Television and Radio, Brooklyn College (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2007

Co-founder and Education Director, the Learning about Multimedia Project (LAMP), a Brooklyn community-based, not-for-profit organization offering media literacy workshops for children, parents and educators. www.thelampnyc.org (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2007

Develop and write media literacy curriculum for K-12 students, parents and educators in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. Also teach media literacy workshops based on those curricula for the Learning About Multimedia Project. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2007

Member, Board of Directors, New York State Communication Association (ongoing) (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2007

Community Activities
Invited Lecture: Guest speaker, media literacy talk, Education and Children's Services sub-committee of Brooklyn Community Board 6, October and November, 2006. 2006