Dr. Martin Smith-Rodden
<b>Department: </b>School of Journalism and Strategic Communication<br><b>Research Area: </b>Dr. Martin Smith-Rodden’s research examines 21st-century skills in journalism, focusing on how evolving technologies, ethical frameworks, and newsroom decision-making shape contemporary practice, particularly in conflict reporting, visual and photo-editing biases, media psychology, and evidence-based approaches to visual ethics and training for emerging journalists.
Department: School of Journalism and Strategic Communication
Research Focus: Dr. Martin Smith-Rodden’s research examines 21st-century skills in journalism, focusing on how evolving technologies, ethical frameworks, and newsroom decision-making shape contemporary practice, particularly in conflict reporting, visual and photo-editing biases, media psychology, and evidence-based approaches to visual ethics and training for emerging journalists.
Potential Student Project(s):
Students working with Dr. Smith-Rodden will gain hands-on experience helping answer real world questions about journalism, ethics, and visual storytelling. Projects are designed to be accessible to first- and second-year students and focus on building practical research and critical-thinking skills.
One possible project involves conflict journalism, where students may help review news articles, photographs, and social media posts to identify how journalists cover dangerous or high-risk events. Tasks could include organizing examples of coverage, tracking how technology (such as social media or AI tools) is used, and summarizing patterns related to safety, ethics, and fairness in reporting.
Another project focuses on photo editing and bias. Students may assist with sorting and coding images, helping prepare surveys, or organizing data that explores how race and gender might influence which photographs are selected for publication. This work helps students better understand how newsroom decisions affect representation.
A third emerging project explores journalism ethics and self-driving car accidents. Students could help collect news stories, compare how different outlets report similar incidents, and identify ethical challenges journalists face when covering new technologies.
Across all projects, students will learn how to ask good questions, work with real data, collaborate on a research team, and better understand the skills journalists need in today’s media environment.
Attributes/skills/background sought in undergraduate:
Qualities of a great mentee might include:
• Curious about how journalism works behind the scenes.
• Interest in ethics, fairness, and representation.
• Comfort with ambiguity and complexity.
• Attention to detail and patience.
• Openness to learning research skills.
• Reflective and thoughtful communicators.
• Intrinsic motivation.
Mentoring Plan:
The student researcher will work approximately 5 hours per week on the project, including at least one hour per week of one-on-one mentoring with Dr. Smith-Rodden. Mentoring will focus on helping the student build foundational research skills while connecting those skills to real-world journalism practice. Early meetings will emphasize goal setting, basic research approaches and ethics, use of software (if needed) and the project's purpose in clear, accessible terms. Ongoing weekly meetings will be used to review progress, discuss challenges, and reflect on how research findings relate to journalism, visual storytelling, and 21st-century skills such as critical thinking and ethical decision-making. The student will receive regular feedback on their work and guidance on organization, analysis, and professional communication. As the semester progresses, the student will be encouraged to take increasing ownership of tasks and to reflect on how the research experience informs their academic and career goals.
Contact: (765)-285-8223, AJ 354