Monica Chadha

Interests

Research

News media entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship; emergence of media entrepreneurship in stable and conflict zones; Impact of revenue sustainable measures followed by news media startups.

Teaching

(News) Media Entrepreneurship; Survey of Research Methods; Revenue Sustainability

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Journals/Publications

• Chadha, M., Kwon, K. H., Pellizzaro, K., & Shao, C. (2022). “I Heard That COVID-19 Was...”: Rumors, Pandemic, and Psychological Distance. American Behavioral Scientist, 000276422110660. doi:10.1177/00027642211066026
• Chadha, M., Tsai, J., & Kwon, K. H. (2022). An Examination of Affiliate and Network Television Channels’ Facebook Use for Addressing Audiences’ Critical Information Needs. Electronic News, 16(3), 164-186. doi:10.1177/19312431221093090
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  Based on the principles of localism and Critical Information Needs (CIN), this study analyzed the news content posted on Facebook by three television news channels—one local ABC affiliate each in Phoenix, Arizona and Kearney, Nebraska, and ABC News network channel — to examine the extent to which these posts fulfilled the critical information needs of audiences via social media. Results showed the local channel in Phoenix posted more CIN content than both, national network ABC and the local television channel in Kearney. Audience engagement with CIN posts differed across communities, with some categories increasing engagement in Phoenix and the same categories decreasing engagement in Kearney. This finding highlights not all critical information posts lead to increased audience engagement on social media and it is important for television channels to pay attention to content format and user feedback to further increase audience engagement with critical information.
• Schroeder, J., & Chadha, M. (2021). Journalist, Advertiser or Both: Reevaluating Legal Distinctions Between Journalistic and Commercial Speech in the Networked Era. Communication Law & Policy, 26(2), 222-264. doi:10.1080/10811680.2021.1893106
• Tsai, J., Bosse, R., Sridharan, N., & Chadha, M. (2020). Reclaiming the narratives: Situated multidimensional representation of underserved Indigenous communities through citizen-driven reporting. Journalism, 23(10), 2132-2152. doi:10.1177/1464884920983261
• Kwon, K., Chadha, M., & Wang, F. (2019). Proximity and networked news public: Structural topic modeling of global Twitter conversations about the 2017 Quebec mosque shooting. International Journal of Communication, 13.
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  The current study used structural topic modeling to investigate the ways in which news of the 2017 Quebec mosque shooting mobilized global public discourse on Twitter. The resulting globally generated Twitter conversations were divided into 9 relevant topics, the prevalence of which were examined based on geographic and informational proximity to the location of the incident. Tweets posted from locations geographically closer to the shooting location prevalently incorporated individual-oriented and conflict-focused storytelling. Conversely, tweets geographically farther from the incident prevalently featured macro-narratives that pointed to societal implications. This study also explored informational distance, which defines the ability to access to in-depth news sources. Results showed that there were topical differences between journalist/institutional tweets and laymen tweets. This study concludes that proximity influences global conversations related to hate crime news.
• Chadha, M., & Harlow, S. (2018). Bottom Lines and Deadlines: Examining Local Digital News Startups’ Content Across Different Revenue-earning Sites. Journalism Practice, 13(6), 723-741. doi:10.1080/17512786.2018.1551729
• Harlow, S., & Chadha, M. (2018). Indian Entrepreneurial Journalism. Journalism Studies, 20(6), 891-910. doi:10.1080/1461670x.2018.1463170
• Harlow, S., & Chadha, M. (2018). Looking for community in community news: An examination of public-spirited content in online local news sites. Journalism, 22(3), 596-615. doi:10.1177/1464884918805255
• Kim, J., Monica Chadha, M., & Gil de Zúñiga, H. (2018). News media use and cognitive elaboration. The mediating role of media efficacy. Revista Latina de Comunicacion Social, 2018(73). doi:10.4185/RLCS-2018-1251
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  This study examines the relationship between news use and elaboration while introducing the mediating role of people’s perception of how different media helps them understand complex issues. The construct—media efficacy—is conceptualized as an individual’s perception of helpfulness of a news medium in understanding complex issues. Analysis from a two-wave panel study showed the relationship between news media use and elaboration was fully mediated by media efficacy. This research advances the Cognitive Mediation Model scholarship by introducing a new mediating variable, media efficacy, and examining its relationship with cognitive elaboration.
• Kwon, K., Priniski, J., & Chadha, M. (2018). Disentangling User Samples: A Supervised Machine Learning Approach to Proxy-population Mismatch in Twitter Research. Communication Methods and Measures, 12(2-3). doi:10.1080/19312458.2018.1430755
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  This study addresses the issue of sampling biases in social media data-driven communication research. The authors demonstrate how supervised machine learning could reduce Twitter sampling bias induced from “proxy-population mismatch”. Particularly, this study used the Random Forest (RF) classifier to disentangle tweet samples representative of general publics’ activities from non-general—or institutional—activities. By applying RF classifier models to Twitter data sets relevant to four news events and a randomly pooled dataset, the study finds systematic differences between general user samples and institutional user samples in their messaging patterns. This article calls for disentangling Twitter user samples when ordinary user behaviors are the focus of research. It also builds on the development of machine learning modeling in the context of communication research.
• Kwon, K. H., Chadha, M., & Pellizzaro, K. (2017). Proximity and Terrorism News in Social Media: A Construal-Level Theoretical Approach to Networked Framing of Terrorism in Twitter. Mass Communication and Society, 20(6), 869-894. doi:10.1080/15205436.2017.1369545
• Chadha, M. (2016). What I am Versus What I do: Work and identity negotiation in hyperlocal news startups. Journalism Practice, 10(6). doi:10.1080/17512786.2015.1046994
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  As digital technologies have practically annihilated entry barriers in the field of journalism, the industry has seen the rise of many digitally native news media startups. Many of these startups are hyperlocal media, usually started by former journalists or concerned residents to provide news to their neighborhoods. Little research exists on entrepreneurship and news media and even less research exists on how these former journalists and/or concerned residents step into these new work roles and make sense of their new responsibilities. This paper explores these individuals’ work-role transition and professional identity negotiation. Analyses of in-depth interviews revealed the respondents tried to make sense of their work in relation to their professional identity by melding their responsibilities with their image of who they are. Thus, they create holistic, positive, professional identities that are more reflective of their new work and roles yet not too different from their idea of who they are as professionals.
• Chadha, M. (2015). The Neighborhood Hyperlocal: New kid on the block or a chip off the old one?. Digital Journalism, 4(6), 743-763. doi:10.1080/21670811.2015.1096747
• Chadha, M., & Harlow, S. (2015). The writing is on the wall, or is it? Exploring Indian activists' beliefs about online social media's potential for social change. International Journal of Communication, 9(1).
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  This study examined how activists in India, the world's largest democracy, perceived online social networking sites' potential to bring about social change in a country with a large digital divide and a partially free press. Analysis of closed and open-ended survey responses indicated activists were positive about using SNS in their work, believing SNS helped transcend geographic and temporal borders and reach out to wider audiences. Despite the digital divide, they did not view lack of Internet access or technical skills as a major challenge to using SNS for activism. Overall, Indian activists said that a social movement needs to use both online and off-line activism tools together to reach its full potential.
• Chadha, M., Avila, A., & Gil de Zúñiga, H. (2012). Listening In: Building a Profile of Podcast Users and Analyzing Their Political Participation. Journal of Information Technology and Politics, 9(4). doi:10.1080/19331681.2012.717481
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  Past research has shown that Internet use for news leads to increased political participation levels, both offline and online. Other forms of digital and user-generated media such as blogs have also yielded similar results. However, little is known about podcast users and their role within democratic societies. This article outlines findings from an online survey conducted in the United States that lend support to the notion that podcast use for news leads to political participation, even when controlling for the effects of other media forms. This article also identifies demographic predictors for those who are likely to be podcast users. © 2012 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
• Chyi, H., & Chadha, M. (2012). News on new devices: Is multi-platform news consumption a reality?. Journalism Practice, 6(4). doi:10.1080/17512786.2011.629125
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  News organizations worldwide now deliver content through multiple electronic devices such as computers, smartphones, e-readers, and tablets. While multi-platform news delivery is widely prevalent, is multi-platform news “consumption” a reality? This study examines the extent to which people own, use, and enjoy these electronic devices. Results of a national survey of US Internet users suggested that despite the excitement about newer, more portable devices, not all devices are equally “newsful.” Most people use only one electronic device for news purposes on a weekly basis. We identified the predictors of device ownership and multi-platform news consumption and discussed the implications for multi-platform news publishing. © 2012 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Presentations

• Relly, J. E., & Chadha, M. (2024, August/Fall). Media entrepreneurial resilience in precarious times: A model.. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Philadelphia, PA: Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.