Biography 

Dr. Jennifer Midberry is an associate professor in the Journalism Department of Temple University's Klein College of Media and Communication. Her research program explores how to improve journalism to create more ethical reporting on marginalized groups and to more effectively evoke audience empathy and engagement with important social issues. Under that overarching theme, her research branches in two directions: visual communication in news and reporting on gun violence. As a former photojournalist and photo editor, her projects are intended to have practical insights for journalists in addition to advancing visual communication and journalism theory. Empowering her students to think critically about media representations and the role of journalism in addressing social problems is the goal that drives her teaching. Previous to her career in academia, she worked as a visual journalist for organizations such as The Philadelphia Daily News, the Associated Press, AOL News, and ABC News.

Courses Taught

Publications

Midberry, J., & Walters, P. (2025). Searching for solutions? A textual analysis of local television news coverage of the gun violence epidemic in Philadelphia. In press at Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. Online first. doi: 10.1177/10776990251318639

Beard, J. H., Eschliman, E. L., Wamakima, A., Morrison, C. N., MacMillan, J., Midberry, J. † (2024). Defining harmful news reporting on community firearm violence: A modified Delphi consensus study. PLoS One, 19(12). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0316026

Peifer, J., Partain, L. P. B., & Midberry, J. (2024). Conversations on “making the news”: A citizen journalism-oriented tool for empowering citizen advocates of journalism. Journalism, 1–19. Online first. doi: 10.1177/14648849241261118

Midberry, J., Partain, L. P. B., & Vaughn, Z.* (2024). Un-settling stereotypes: Photo agency visual representations of Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States. Journalism Practice, 1–23. doi: 10.1080/17512786.2024.2340525

Beard, J., Trombley, S.*, Walker, T.*, Roberts, L., Partain, L., MacMillan, J., & Midberry, J. † (2024). Public health framing of firearm violence on local television news in Philadelphia, PA, USA: A quantitative content analysis. BMC Public Health, 24(1221). doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-18718-0

Beard, J., Raissian, R.*, Roberts, L., Partain, L., Midberry, J., Walker, T.*, Trombley, S.*, MacMillan, J., & Morrison, C. † (2024).Systematic Disparities in Reporting on Community Firearm Violence on Local Television News in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Preventive Medicine Reports, 42(June). doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2024.102739

Midberry, J., Brown, D.K., Potter, R.F., & Comfort, R.N.* (2024). The influence of visual frame combinations in solutions journalism stories. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 101(1), 230 –252. doi: 10.1177/10776990221109235

Beard, J.H., Midberry, J., Afif, I.N.*, Dauer, E., MacMillan, J., & Jacoby, S.F. † (2023). “Like I’m a nobody”: Firearm–injured peoples’ perspectives on news media reporting about firearm violence. Social Science and Medicine: Qualitative Research in Health, 3. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmqr.2022.100212

Brown, D.K., & Midberry, J. (2022). Social media news production, emotional Facebook reactions, and the politicization of drug addiction, Health Communication, 37(3), 375–383. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2020.1846265

Midberry, J. (2020). Compassionate horror or compassion fatigue: Responses to human-cost-of-war photographs. International Journal of Communication. 14, 4406–442. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/12539

Midberry, J., Comfort, R.N.*, & Roskos, J.E.* (2020). Celebrating life or adversity? The redefinition of features in the Pictures of the Year International contest. Journalism, 21(6), 766–783. doi: 10.1177/1464884919841134

Midberry, J., & Dahmen, N. (2019). Visual solutions journalism: A theoretical framework. Journalism Practice, 14(10), 1159–1178. doi: 10.1080/17512786.2019.1689371

Midberry, J. (2017). Photos of the day online galleries: Representing a more nuanced world. Journalism, 18(6), 700–715. doi: 10.1177/1464884916636124

Midberry, J. (2017). “Only image I ever see”: U.S. media consumers’ perceptions of Iraqis. Journalism Studies, 18(7), 925–942. doi: 10.1080/1461670X.2015.1088399

Midberry, J. (2017). Photos of breastfeeding in uniform: Contesting discourses of masculinity, nationalism, and the military. Feminist Media Studies, 17(6), 972–987. doi: 10.1080/14680777.2017.1283340

Nguyen, V.A., Boyd-Graber, J., Resnik, P., Cai, D., Midberry, J., & Wang, Y. (2014). Modeling topic control to detect influence in conversations using nonparametric topic models. Machine Learning, 95, 381–421. doi: 10.1007/s10994-013-5417-9