MICHAEL DIERINGER is a Mexican American doctoral student in journalism studying alternative media, politics, and the public. Dieringer’s research interests complicate contemporary definitions of alternative media and the role of right-wing alternative media in social movements and politics. He understands alternative media as temporally constrained in its definition and seeks to further illuminate and intersect tensions between audiences, politics, and alternative news media.

Dieringer is particularly interested in minority audiences of alternative media. He draws from media sociology to understand the role of audiences in building communities and fostering collective action. In his research, he employs both qualitative and quantitative methods. Beyond alternative media, Dieringer is also a methodologist and studies how research is both developed and performed.

Prior to beginning the doctoral program, he worked in public radio and covered local, regional, and statewide areas. Dieringer earned his Masters in Media and Communication from Bowling Green State University and his Bachelors in Mass Media from Northwest Missouri State University.

Presentations and Panels

• Dieringer, M. & Ž. Raškauskaitė. “The Meso-Relational Position of Right-wing Alternative Media,” AEJMC 2023, Washington D.C. to be presented
• Dieringer, M. “An Alternative View: The Metajournalistic Discourse of Mainstream Media Criticism,”, AEJMC 2023, Washington D.C. to be presented
• Speakman, B., Lawrie, L., Dieringer, M. “Law and Order (unless you investigate people I like): Partisan Hegemony and Increasing Asymmetrical Polarization,” AEJMC 2023, Washington D.C. to be presented
• Speakman, B., Dieringer, M., Lawrie, L. “Tucker Carlson and Creating Enemies: Us Versus Them Dynamics in the Conservative Counter-sphere,” AEJMC 2023, Washington D.C. to be presented
• Dieringer, M. (March 2023) “An Alternative View: The Metajournalistic Discourse of Mainstream Media Criticism,” AEJMC Southeast Colloquium, Murfreesboro, Tennessee
• “Social Media Meets Alternative Journalism: Understanding the Potentials and Perils for Social Justice,” Central States Communication Association Annual Convention, April 2022, Madison, Wisconsin, Panelist
• Dieringer, M. & Stump, P. (August 2021) “Wait, What’s Your Group Doing? Reflections and Analysis in Grounded Theory and Group Online Research”, 6th Culture, English Language Teaching & Literature International Conference, Virtual, Parallel Speaker
• “Doing Data Visualizations and Qualitative Interviews with Care – Using Qualitative Tools with In-Depth Qualitative Data Through a Critical Anti-Colonial Lens,” May 2021, International Communication Association Virtual Conference, Panelist

Awards

• 2023 AEJMC-MCSD Diversity and Inclusion Career Development Fellow
• 2023 MacDougall Student Paper Award, Third Place, Newspaper and Online News Division, AEJMC, 2023 “The Meso-Relational Position of Right-wing Alternative Media,” M. Dieringer, Ž. Raškauskaitė.