ESTHER THORSON is the associate dean for graduate studies and research and serves as the director of research for the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute.

Thorson has published more than 100 scholarly pieces on news effects, advertising, media economics, and health communication, and she has edited six books. Thorson has headed grant and research contracts totaling nearly $3 million. She is the only female Fellow of the American Academy of Advertising. Thorson applies research, both hers and that of her colleagues, in newsrooms and advertising agencies across the United States and abroad. She serves on eight journal editorial boards.

Her research with colleague Margaret Duffy for the Newspaper Association of America has been presented in national forums throughout the United States. Other recent projects focus on internet advertising, the choice of news sources of the 18-34 demographic, the emotional effect of negative news photographs and the impact of the Internet on traditional media use for news.

Thorson has advised more than 35 doctoral dissertations, and her former students hold prestigious professorships throughout the United States and Asia. She is the recipient of the American Advertising Federation’s Distinguished Advertising Education Award, the American Academy of Advertising’s Outstanding Contribution to Research Award, a Mizzou Alumni Association Faculty Award and the Missouri Curator’s Award for Scholarly Excellence.

Selected Publications

Journal Articles

• S. Lacy, M. Duffy, D. Riffe, E. Thorson, and K. Fleming. “The Substitutability between Citizen Journalism and Daily Newspaper Sites.” Newspaper Research Journal. (2010).
• S. Lacy, D. Riffe, E. Thorson and M. Duffy. “Examining the Features, Policies, and Resources of Citizen Journalism: Citizen News Sites and Blogs.” Web Journal of Mass Communication Research, June. (2009).

Refereed Paper Presentations

• Ye Wang, Erin Schauster, Shelly Rodgers, and Esther Thorson. “A Study of Graduate Student Authorship in Advertising Journals: 1997-2008.” American Academy of Advertising, March 10-13, 2010, Minneapolis.
• Margaret Duffy, Esther Thorson and Fred Vultee. “Advocating Advocacy: Acknowledging and Teaching Journalism As Persuasion.” AEJMC annual conference, Boston, Aug. 5-8, 2009.
• Mi Jahng, Hans Meyer and Esther Thorson. “Youngsters’ Political Talk with Those Outside School and Family: The Hierarchy of Political Socialization.” AEJMC annual conference, Boston, Aug. 5-8, 2009.
• Second Place, Division Paper Competition. Jeremy Littau, Liz Gardner and Esther Thorson. “The Impact of News ‘Voice’ on Adolescent Political Efficacy.” AEJMC annual conference, Boston, Aug. 5-8, 2009.
• Shrihari Sridhar, Esther Thorson and Murali Mantrala. “The Impact of Newsroom Cutbacks on Newspaper Revenue: An Empirical Financial Analysis.” AEJMC annual conference, Boston, Aug. 5-8, 2009.
• M. Duffy, E. Thorson and M. Jahng. (2010). “Comparing Legacy News Sites with Citizen News and Blog.” International Communication Association conference, Singapore, June 22-26, 2010.

Book Chapter

• Shelly Rodgers, Esther Thorson and Yun Jin. (2009) “Social Science Theories of Traditional and Internet Advertising.” In D. W. Stacks and M. B. Salwen (Eds.), “An Integrated Approach to Communication Theory and Research,” 2nd ed., Chapter 14 (pp. 198-219), New York: Routledge.