Tim P. Vos

Tim Vos

School of Journalism Director

Department
  • Journalism
tpvos@msu.edu
517-353-6430
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Bio

Tim P. Vos is Professor and Director of the Michigan State University School of Journalism. Vos is an International Communication Association (ICA) Fellow and a past president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the field’s leading research, teaching, and service organization. He is the former vice-chair of the AEJMC Standing Committee on Research and the former head of AEJMC’s History Division.

Vos earned his Doctorate in Mass Communication from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication at Syracuse University (2005). He previously served on the Communication faculty at Seton Hall University and was an associate professor and chair of Journalism Studies at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. A native Iowan, Vos was a first-generation college student. He worked as a broadcast journalist for 12 years, during which time he wrote for local and national publications and interviewed most of the major party candidates for U.S. president.

Research and Teaching

Vos's research examines the roles of journalism, media sociology and gatekeeping, media history, and media policy. His work also explores how change has happened in print, broadcast, and digital news, public relations, and advertising.

Vos is co-author, co-editor, or editor of four books and the International Communication Association's (ICA) International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies. He is the book series editor of Journalism in Perspective from the University of Missouri Press. Vos has won the Best American Journalism Article award, the Laurence R. Campbell Faculty Research Award, the James E. Murphy Top Faculty Paper Award, the Leslie J. Moeller Award, the Kappa Tau Alpha research award; and top-three faculty paper awards from AEJMC and ICA. He was selected as an ICA Fellow in 2023 for distinguished scholarly contributions to the field of communication.

Vos is the primary investigator for the Discourses on Journalism project and lead U.S. investigator for the 100-plus-country Worlds of Journalism Study.

Thematic Research Areas

Political Communication and Civic Engagement
Policy and Governance

Recent Publications

Vos, T.P. & Hanusch (2024). Conceptualising embeddedness as a key dimension for analysing journalistic cultures. Communication Theory DOI: 10.1093/ct/qtad018.

Vos, T.P. & Thomas, R.J. (2023). "They're making it more democratic:" The normative construction of participatory journalism. Digital Journalism. DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2023.2174893.

Vos, T.P., Thomas, R.J. & Tandoc, E.C., Jr. (2023). Constructing the legitimacy of journalists' marketing role. Journalism Studies. DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2023.2187650.

Vos, T.P. (2023). A course correction for Journalism Studies. Journalism Studies. DOI: 10.1080/1461670X.2023.2190822.

Marques, F.P.J. & Vos, T.P. (2023). Advancing comparative studies in Political Communication research: What factors explain the transformation of media systems? International Communication Gazette. DOI 10.1177/17480485231177887.

Marques, F.P.J., Miola, E., Vos, T.P., Fontes, G.S. & Santos, D. (2023). 'Fake news' and journalistic authority in newspaper editorials. Journalism Studies. DOI: 1080/146167X.2023.2214941.

Geertsema-Sligh, M. & Vos, T.P. (2022). Running up against a brick wall: U.S. metajournalistic discourse of gender equality in newsrooms. Journalism Studies 23(14) 1758-1778.

Vos, T.P. (2022). The social roles of journalism. In  S. Allan (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism (pp. 73-81). New York, London: Routledge.

Russell, F.M. & Vos, T.P. (2022). Journalism's interactions with Silicon Valley platforms. In  Ferrucci, P. & Eldridge, S. II (Eds.), The Institutions Changing Journalism (pp. 166-180). New York, London: Routledge.

Vos, T.P. (2022). Overview: Anglo-Saxon countries. In  Fengler, S., Eberwein, T. & Karmasin, M. (Eds.), The Global Handbook of Media Accountability (pp. 61-62). New York, London: Routledge.

Raemy, P. & Vos, T.P. (2021). A negotiative theory of journalistic roles. Communication Theory 31(1) 107-126.

Wolfgang, D., Vos, T.P., Kelling, K. & Shin, S. (2021). Political journalism and democracy: How journalists reflect political viewpoint diversity in their reporting. Journalism Studies 22(10) 1339-1357.

Craft, S. & Vos, T.P. (2021). The ethics of transparency. In L.T. Price, K. Sanders & W.N. Wyatt (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Journalism Ethics (pp. 175-183). New York, London: Routledge.

Vos, T.P. & Perreault, G. (2020). The discursive construction of the gamification of journalism. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies 26(3) 470-485.

Vos, T.P. & Moore, J. (2020). Building the journalistic paradigm: Beyond paradigm repair. Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism 21(1) 17-33.

Perreault, G. & Vos, T.P. (2020). Metajournalitic discourse on the rise of gaming journalism. New Media & Society 22(1) 159-176.

Hanusch, F. & Vos, T.P. (2020). Charting the development of a field: A systematic analysis of comparative studies of journalism. International Communication Gazette 82(4) 319-341.

Books

Vos, T.P. & Hanusch, F. (Eds.). (2019) Dimitrakopoulou, D. Sehl, A. & Geertsema-Sligh, M. (Assoc. Eds.). International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies. Wiley-Blackwell.

Vos, T.P. (Ed.) (2018). Journalism. Vol. 19 of Handbooks of Communication Science Series, Peter J. Schulz and Paul Cobley (Series Eds.). Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton.

Liebler, C. and Vos, T.P. (Eds.) (2018). Media scholarship in a transitional age: Research in honor of Pamela J. Shoemaker. New York: Peter Lang.

Vos, T.P. & Heinderyckx, F., (Eds.). (2015). Gatekeeping in Transition. New York: Routledge Press.

Shoemaker, P.J. & Vos, T.P. (2009). Gatekeeping Theory. New York: Routledge Press. (Portuguese translation [2011]. Teoria do gatekeeping: Selecao e construcao da noticia. Porto Alegre, Brazil: Artmed Editora SA.)

Contact Information

404 Wilson Road, Room 305
Communication Arts Building