Rachel Mourão, Ph.D.

Rachel Mourão,

Associate Professor, Director of Journalism Ph.D Studies

Department
  • Journalism
mourao@msu.edu
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Bio

Employing both quantitative and qualitative methods, Dr. Mourão focuses on how journalists cover political events in a changing media ecosystem. Her projects have focused on elections and protests, both in the United States and in Brazil. At MSU, she teaches courses on social media, media literacy, media theory, and multimedia reporting. She has received grants from the National Science Foundation, the US State Department (Missions Brazil and Chile), the Online News Association, and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Dr. Mourão received her doctorate in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, School of Journalism. She also holds a Master of Arts from the University of Florida, Center for Latin American Studies and a Bachelor of Arts from the Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Departamento de Comunicação Social.

Research and Teaching

Dr. Mourão studies how news narratives about politics are constructed and how journalism can improve in an era of declining media trust and fragmentation of political communication. She conducts research that seeks to understand and improve how people create and make sense of news about politics. Two questions guide her scholarly work: a) What influences shape journalistic coverage of politics? and b) How does fragmentation challenge the ways in which political news narratives are created and consumed?

Her work has informed several projects aiming to strengthen Latin American and US media through education and professional training. In 2018-19, she was awarded grants from the US Department of State Missions Brazil and Chile to train journalism students in Brasilia and Santiago. Her teaching has also been funded by the Online News Association for a project testing the effectiveness of a multimedia issue-oriented curriculum for undergraduate reporting.

Dr. Mourão has won many awards, including the Teacher-Scholar Award (MSU), Mass Communication and Society Faculty Grant (AEJMC), the Gene Burd Outstanding Dissertation in Journalism Studies (ICA), the Top Dissertation Award by the Mass Communication and Society Division (AEJMC), and the Latin American Studies Award (AEJMC). 

Thematic Research Areas

Political Communication and Civic Engagement

Related Work

Esther Thorson receives award for her research at the AEJMC Conference. Photo by Kristiana Baker.
J-School Wins at the AEJMC 2017 Conference
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Mourao and Grimm
Winning the ONA Challenge Fund Fosters Innovation in the J-School
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Photo of StratCom professor Rachel Mourao
Rachel Mourão: Combining teaching and research make for the ‘dream job’
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Photos of four honorees
Several ComArtSci Faculty Win All-University Award Honors
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New Research text over Rachel Mourão's headshot
The Shape of News: Journalism Scholar Rachel Mourão Shows How News Can Affect Perception of Protests
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Recent Publications

For a complete list of Dr. Mourão's work, see:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8229-7247

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=zcw6Yd4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao  

Selected publications:

Mourão, R. R. (2021). When the Right Protests: How Journalists Cover Conservative Movements. Journalism Practice. Published online: October 04, 2021

Mourão, R.R. & Brown, D. (2021). Black Lives Matter Coverage: How protest news coverage and attitudinal change affect social media outcomes. Digital Journalism. Published online first June 16, 2021.

Mourão, R.R. & Chen, W. (2019). Covering protests on Twitter – The Influences on Brazilian Journalists’ Social Media Portrayals of the 2013 and 2015 Demonstrations. The International Journal of Press/Politics. Published online first October 18, 2019

Mourão, R. R. (2019). From mass to elite protests: News Coverage and the Evolution of Anti-Government Demonstrations in Brazil. Mass Communication & Society, 22(1), 49-71.

Mourão, R.R. & Robertson, C. T. (2019). Fake news as discursive integration: a content analysis of sites that publish false, misleading, hyperpartisan and sensational information. Journalism Studies, 20(14), 2077-2095.

Mourão, R.R. & Molyneux, L. (2020). Tweeting Outside the Lines: Normalization and Fragmentation as Political Reporters Break from the Mainstream. Journalism Practice, Published online first May 31, 2020.

Mourão, R.R. & Harlow, S. (2020). Awareness, Reporting, and Branding: Exploring Brazilian Journalists’ Social Media Use Across Platforms. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Published online first June 3, 2020.

Robertson, C. & Mourão, R.R. (2020). Faking Alternative Journalism? An Analysis of Self-Presentations of “Fake News” Sites. Digital Journalism, Published online first March 25, 2020.

Recent grants include:

2022-24   Mott Foundation, $400,000.00 (Co-PI), Energy Convergence for Off-Grid Amazonian Communities Program; Co-PIs: Emilio Moran (PI), Judy Walgren, Norbert Mueller, Aaron McCright, Maria Lopez

2020-22   National Science Foundation, $1,087,555.00 (Co-PI); Project: GCR: Convergence for Innovative Energy Solutions: Empowering Off-Grid Communities with Sustainable Energy Technologies; Co-PIs: Emilio Moran (PI), Norbert Mueller, Aaron McCright, Maria Lopez

2018-19   U.S. State Department, Mission Brazil, $50,000 (PI); Project: Michigan-Brazil Multimedia Journalism Program; Co-PIs: Bob Gould, Mike Castellucci, and Judy Walgren

2018-20   Mass Communication & Society Division at AEJMC – Research Grants, $10,000 (Co-PI); Project: News media effects, attitudes toward Black protest movements and the intersections of injustice; PI: Danielle Kilgo, Indiana University

 

Contact Information

404 Wilson Rd., Room 340

Communication Arts and Sciences Building
Michigan State University