Joshua Anderson

Interests

Teaching

My teaching interests focus on science and environmental journalism. My teaching experience at the U of Arizona includes JOUR 305 "Full STEM Ahead: Science in the News."

Research

My research interests focus on how a person's identities shape they ways that they engage with science news and how journalists can adapt to making science news in new media ecosystems.

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Chapters

• Anderson, J., Eastin, M., & LaMonica, M. (2025).

  The Environmental Communication Uncertainty Framework- How Biology May Inform Communication Theory.

  . In Emerging vegetal communication in the public space.
• Anderson, J., Kazmi, S., Yu, N., Atkinson, L., Jamar, P., & Tao, J. (2025).

  Sustainable and Just?: A Concept Analysis of Access to Sustainable Commercial Goods as an Issue of Environmental Justice.

  . In Strategic Sustainability Communication. Principles, Perspectives and Potential of Communication for Transformation. Springer Nature.

Journals/Publications

• Sussman, K. L., Atkinson, L., Anderson, J., Williamson, L., Upshaw, S., & Ntang Beb, J. L. (2025). Moral Framing in AI-Mediated Communication: Exploration of LLM Effects on Engagement Patterns Among Black Americans. Journal of Interactive Advertising. doi:10.1080/15252019.2025.2576174
  More info

  Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is widely used in social media to offer personalized experiences and shape user engagement, but questions persist about AI’s potential. Due to the nascency of the technologies, little understanding exists about how these systems impact our societies. This study establishes an approach that integrates moral foundations theory and AI-mediated communication (AI-MC) using in-context learning to appeal to Black Americans on social media. We empirically compare the AI-MC with the human-authored copy on user engagement results from Facebook advertising messages, with self-reported measures of engagement using a two-part, 2 × 3 factorially designed study. The results indicated that AI-MC and positive perceptions toward AI can lead to higher engagement with messaging targeting Black Americans. The AI effect was most pronounced on the loyalty/betrayal moral frame, which had the least linguistic similarity to the human-authored stimuli but was most effective at engaging the audience. Engagement patterns were also inconsistent between the behavioral outcomes reported by Facebook and the engagement that was self-reported by respondents, suggesting differences between perceived engagement and what occurs naturally on social media.
• Anderson, J., & Brown-Devlin, N. (2024). The shifting foundations of current social media research and systems thinking as a remedy. The Journal of Social Media in Society, 13(1), 199--206.
• Anderson, J., Sussman, K., & Song, Y. G. (2024). To be woke or not to be woke? An exploration of the moral foundations of conservative rejection of brand activism.. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 1-14.
• Anderson, J., & Dudo, A. (2023). A View From the Trenches: Interviews With Journalists About Reporting Science News. Science Communication, 45(Issue 1). doi:10.1177/10755470221149156
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  In the United States and many other large media markets, science journalism has experienced major structural shifts that have resulted in the profession largely being conducted by nonspecialists and freelancers who cope with an abundance of misinformation and a loss of public confidence. In this qualitative work, we present the results of in-depth interviews with science journalists to understand current struggles and motivations for producing science news. Despite structural challenges and occupational burnout, journalists are motivated to produce science news for their perceived social benefits. However, many of the ways they are left to cope with these issues are personal strategies (e.g., resilience) that are unsustainable and ignore systemic inequities.
• Anderson, J. T., Bouchacourt, L. M., Sussman, K. L., Bright, L. F., & Wilcox, G. B. (2022). Telehealth adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic: A social media textual and network analysis. Digital Health, 8(Issue). doi:10.1177/20552076221090041
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  Objective: The telemedicine industry has rapidly grown during the COVID-19 pandemic, and telemedicine has become a common form of care. The present study looks at the online conversation regarding telemedicine at the beginning of the pandemic and one year later. The Technology Acceptance Model is utilized to explain the findings. Methods: Brandwatch and NUVI software captured social mentions on Twitter regarding telemedicine during the beginning of the pandemic (March 15, 2020–April 20, 2020) and one year later (March 12, 2021–April 19, 2021). SAS text-mining software analyzed the social mentions and organized them into ten unique topics for each time period. The research team analyzed the topics and organized them into themes. A network analysis was also performed to examine structure and influence within the network. Results: In March–April 2020, the themes focused on the use of telehealth in general, telehealth for mental health applications, and Medicare covering telehealth services. In March–April 2021, the themes focused on news events regarding telehealth and the rise in prominence of telehealth services. The network analysis shows a shift in the distribution of telehealth information among influential accounts and reveals that the network became more connected, with a change in the control of information spread. Conclusions: Technology Acceptance Model explains the social acceptance and spread of telemedicine. The transition in the conversation about telemedicine suggests a pattern of greater system use consistent with the Technology Acceptance Model. Telemedicine may have greatly increased in use because of the pandemic, but data suggests that its use may persist after the pandemic subsides.
• Shah, P., Wang, W., Yang, J. Z., Kahlor, L. A., & Anderson, J. (2022). Framing climate change mitigation technology: The impact of risk versus benefit messaging on support for carbon capture and storage. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 119(Issue). doi:10.1016/j.ijggc.2022.103737
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  There has been a steep growth in the number of carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects globally. However, Americans remain relatively unfamiliar with this climate change mitigation technology, even in communities where the projects would be sited. Using the technology acceptance model as our theoretical framework, this study examined how benefit- and risk-framed messages about CCS might influence community members’ support for CCS deployment. Through a messaging experiment, we found that exposure to the relative benefit or risk of CCS influenced public support for CCS through risk-benefit perception and affective evaluation of the technology.
• Anderson, J. T., Howell, E. L., Xenos, M. A., Scheufele, D. A., & Brossard, D. (2021). Learning without seeking?: Incidental exposure to science news on social media & knowledge of gene editing. Journal of Science Communication, 20(Issue 4). doi:10.22323/2.20040201
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  Little is known about how incidental exposure to news, interpersonal discussion, and the diversity of social networks interact in social media environments and for science-related issues. Using a U.S. nationally representative survey, we investigate how these features relate to factual knowledge of gene editing. Incidental exposure to science-related news interacts with interpersonal discussion and network heterogeneity and reveals that the relationship between incidental exposure to news and knowledge is strongest among those who discuss the least. Incidental exposure could alleviate knowledge gaps between the Facebook users who are the most and least involved in interpersonal discussions about science.

Presentations

• Anderson, J. (2024). LGBTQ Science News Together But Not Apart: An Experimental Study of LGBTQ Science News From a Multiple Social Identity Perspective.. Association for Education of Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Conference.
• Anderson, J., Sussman, K., & Song, Y. G. (2024). To be woke or not to be woke? An exploration of the moral foundations of conservative rejection of brand activism. American Academy of Advertising (AAA) Conference.
• Brown-Devlin, N., Tao, J., Imbrogno, C., Butterbaugh, N., Liu, X., Memmon, L., Acaf, Y., & Anderson, J. (2024). Examining Sports Media Credibility, Bias, Political Identification, and Fandom Using a Repeated Cross-sectional Survey.. Association for Education of Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Conference.
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  Presented with top faculty paper award (1st place) in Sports Communication division