Recent work suggests women authors experience more abuse in online comments than men, but we do not know whether these abusive comments affect people's perceptions. Given renewed interest in the experience of women online, we ask: does exposure to abusive comments affect perceptions of women authors' credibility? And does this penalty extend to the outlet? To answer these questions, we employed a survey experiment which manipulated exposure to an abusive comment, and author gender. We found a significant effect for the abusive comment on author credibility and intention to seek news from the author and outlet in the future, but gender of the author did not moderate these effects. To ensure the null effects for gender were not an artifact of comment or topic, we fielded two additional survey experiments. Across topics, whether the abuse was gendered or gender-specific, we found abusive comments exert significant negative effects on evaluations, regardless of author gender. Our results have implications for news organizations considering comments.

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This study used the 2014 Ebola outbreak as a case study to compare news coverage of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) between the Polarized Pluralist media system and the Liberal media system. This investigation revealed that partisan frames, emphasis on local and international efforts and use of health expert sources all differed across the two media systems. These differences suggest that social, political and economic attributes of media systems affect how news is shaped. When an event of international significance occurs, such as a disease outbreak, the characteristics that make up a media system will influence how issues are covered and presented to the public. Giving the current globalized nature of news, the findings in this study has implications for international news flow.

This study examined different adjustment challenges experienced by African-born faculty members in higher education in the United States. Using the critical race theory as a framework and in-depth interviews of a purposive sample of nine African-born academics selected from across the U.S., the authors explored the factors that militate against the smooth transition of these diaspora faculties in higher education in the country and offer insights into a better understanding of their needs and experiences. The findings show that African-born academics in U.S. higher education face challenges in communication, differences in academic systems, and culture, especially in the power distance between students and instructors. The authors offer recommendations for aspiring diaspora and African-born faculties and the policymakers in U.S. universities and colleges that hire these professionals.