Alyssa Appelman


Alyssa Appelman
  • Associate Professor

Contact Info

Stauffer-Flint Hall 209C
1435 Jayhawk Boulevard
Lawrence, KS 66045

Biography

Alyssa Appelman is an associate professor in the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas. She joined the KU faculty in 2023. Alyssa specializes in news accuracy and credibility. She tests the effects of journalistic norms and practices on readers. She has conducted projects on the effects of grammatical errors, stylistic errors and factual errors in news articles. More broadly, she’s interested in the effects of message characteristics in digital and social media.

Alyssa’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism Practice, Newspaper Research Journal, Mass Communication and Society, Computers in Human Behavior and American Behavioral Scientist. Her work has been presented at academic and professional conferences, both nationally and internationally. Alyssa is a member of ACES: The Society for Editing, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association.

Before coming to KU, Alyssa was a faculty member in the School of Media and Communication in the College of Informatics at Northern Kentucky University for eight years. She also worked for Freedom Communications as a copy editor and page designer for multiple publications, including the Northwest Florida Daily News and the Panama City News Herald. Alyssa interned at The Washington Times and The Washington Post, and she freelanced for Voices of Central Pennsylvania, the Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc., and Samsung Research America.

Education

Ph.D. in Mass Communications, The Pennsylvania State University
M.A. in Journalism, University of Missouri-Columbia
B.A. in Journalism, University of Missouri-Columbia

Research

Research interests:

  • Journalistic Practices
  • News Accuracy
  • Fact-Checking
  • Media Credibilty
  • Media Psychology
  • Information Processing
  • Media Literacy
  • Social Media

Selected Publications

Appelman, A., & Hettinga, K. E. (in press). Job satisfaction in the COVID-19 era: A survey of copy editors across fields. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990231206370

Appelman, A. (in press). Numbers in news articles: Effects of presence, errors, and (false) recall. Electronic News. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/19312431231190846.

Oeldorf-Hirsch, A., Schmierbach, M., Appelman, A., & Boyle, M. (in press). The influence of fact-checking is disputed!: The role of party identification in processing and sharing fact-checked social media posts. American Behavioral Scientist. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642231174335

Appelman, A., & Schmierbach, M. (in press). Coverage of public opinion polls: Journalists’ perceptions and readers’ responses. Journalism Practice. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2022.2058064

Appelman, A. (2022). Written in code: Exploring the negative effects of acronyms in news headlines. Journalism Practice, 16(7), 1495-1511. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786. 2020.1867622

Appelman, A., & Hettinga, K. E. (2021). Correcting online content: The influence of news outlet reputation. Journalism Practice, 15(10), 1562-1579. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786. 2020.1784776

Appelman, A., & Hettinga, K.E. (2021). The ethics of transparency: A review of corrections language in international journalistic codes of ethics.Journal of Media Ethics, 36(2), 97-110. https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2021.1899826

Formentin, M., Hettinga, K.E., & Appelman, A. (2021). Two wrongs don’t make a right: Journalists’ perceptions and usages of press releases. Corporate Reputation Review, 24(2), 65-75. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41299-019-00091-z

Hettinga, K.E., & Appelman, A. (2020). Errors, requests, apologies: A case study of 50 years of corrections in a college newspaper. College Media Review, 57,17-28. http://cmreview.org/ errors-requests-apologies/

Oeldorf-Hirsch, A., Schmierbach, M., Appelman, A., & Boyle, M. (2020). The ineffectiveness of fact-checking labels on news memes and articles. Mass Communication and Society, 23(5), 682-704. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2020.1733613

Appelman, A. “ALPHABET SOUP”: Examining acronym and abbreviation style in headlines. (2020). Journalism Practice, 14(7), 880-895. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2019.1642125

Oeldorf-Hirsch, A., Schmierbach, M., Appelman, A., & Boyle, M. (2020). For the birds: Media sourcing, Twitter and the minimal effect on audience perceptions. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 26(2), 350-368. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856518780438

Appelman, A., & Hettinga, K. E. (2019). Error message: Creation of a revised codebook for analysis of newspaper corrections. Newspaper Research Journal, 40(1), 25-37. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739532918814452

Appelman, A., & Schmierbach, M. (2018). Make no mistake? Cognitive and perceptual effects of grammatical errors in news articles. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 95(4), 930-947. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699017736040

Hettinga, K. E., Appelman, A., Otmar, C., Posada, A., & Thompson, A. (2018).  Comparing and contrasting corrected errors at four newspapers. Newspaper Research Journal, 39(2), 155-168. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739532918775685

Appelman, A., & Asmara, M. (2018). A crisis by any other name? Examining the effects of journalistic “crisis labeling” on corporate perceptions. Newspaper Research Journal, 39(1), 83-92. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739532918761060

Hettinga, K. E., & Appelman, A. (2016). Repeating error lowers perception of correction’s importance. Newspaper Research Journal, 37(3), 249-260. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0739532916664376

Hettinga, K. E., Clark, R., & Appelman, A. (2016). Exploring the use of corrections on college newspapers’ websites. College Media Review, 53,4-17. http://cmreview.org/3380-2/

Appelman, A., & Sundar, S. S. (2016). Measuring message credibility: Construction and validation of an exclusive scale. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 93(1), 59-79. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699015606057

Appelman, A., & Hettinga, K. E. (2015). Do news corrections affect credibility? Not necessarily. Newspaper Research Journal, 36(4), 415-425. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0739532915618403

Zhong, B., & Appelman, A. (2014). How college students read and write on the Web: The role of ICT use in processing online information. Computers in Human Behavior, 38, 201-207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.05.037

Hettinga, K. E., & Appelman, A. (2014). Corrections of newspaper errors have little impact. Newspaper Research Journal, 35(1), 51-63. https://doi.org/10.1177/073953291403500105

Appelman, A., & Bolls, P. (2011). Article recall, credibility lower with grammar errors. Newspaper Research Journal,32(2), 50-62. https://doi.org/10.1177/073953291103200205

Awards & Honors

Honorable Mention for Champions of Editing Linda Shockley Award for Excellence in Teaching

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

2023

Kopenhaver Center Fellow

Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for the Advancement of Women in Communication

Florida International University

2019-2020

Excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Award

Academic Affairs Faculty Awards, Northern Kentucky University

2019

Second Place Top Paper Award for Mass Communication and Society Division

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

2018

Page and Johnson Legacy Scholar Grant

The Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication

The Pennsylvania State University

2017-2018

Poynter ACES Certificate in Accurate, Audience-Focused Editing

The Poynter Institute for Media Studies and ACES: The Society for Editing

2017

Poynter ACES Certificate in Editing

The Poynter Institute for Media Studies and ACES: The Society for Editing

2017

Djung Yune Tchoi Memorial Excellence in Teaching Award

The Pennsylvania State University

2015

Teaching with Technology Certificate

The Pennsylvania State University

2014

The Graduate School Teaching Certificate

The Pennsylvania State University

2014

Certificate for Online Teaching

The Pennsylvania State University

2013

Top Student Paper Award for Communication and Social Cognition Division

National Communication Association

2012

University Graduate Fellowship

Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, The Pennsylvania State University

2011-2015

Walter Williams Scholar

Missouri School of Journalism, University of Missouri-Columbia

2004-2008