Blessing Jona
- Ph.D. Student
Contact Info
Personal Links
Biography —
Blessing Tapiwa Jona is a Graduate Teaching Assistant and Ph.D. in Journalism and Mass Communications student at the University of Kansas' William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications. He is also a filmmaker, Humphrey Fellowship alumnus, and Robert Bosch African Filmmaking Fellowship alumnus. During the 2022-2023 Humphrey Fellowship at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Blessing was part of a student sustainability documentary filmmaking team that produced Forgotten Children of Mother Magma, a 10-minute documentary which went on to win 3rd place in the short form documentary category of BEA's 2023 Festival of Media Arts Awards. Another documentary in which Blessing has credits in, Flash Point | The History of Peoria Fire-Medical Department premiered in City of Peoria, Arizona in February 2024.
Research —
Blessings research interests lie in narrative persuasion, reception analyses, and content and textual analyses of popular films’ representations of lived experiences, within the realm of Health Communication.
Research interests:
- Narrative persuasion
- Reception Analyses
- Content and textual analyses in health
Teaching —
Coming to the University of Kansas, from the National University of Science and Technology (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe), where he is a Journalism and Media Studies lecturer, Blessing has teaching experience in Media Texts and Audiences; Popular Culture: Theories and Perspectives; Communication and Media Theories, Research Methodology in Journalism and Media Studies, and Fundamentals of Film and Video Production, just to mention a few. At the University of Kansas, Blessing is teaching Data Storytelling.
Selected Presentations —
Jona, B.T. (8/8/2024 - 8/11/2024). Popular U.S. News Media Websites’ Representation of the Fentanyl Crisis. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Awards & Honors —
Commission on the Status of Women Second Place Top Paper Award: Seo, H., Burkett, M., Okocha, M., Ha, H., Chaif, R., Izhar, N., Barros, M.N., Jona, B.T, & Iqbal, A. (8/8/2024 - 8/11/2024). Social Media Activism and Women’s Health: Endometriosis as Feminist Issue. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Seo, H., da Silva, M.P., Jona, B.T, Iqbal, A., Burkett, M., Khan, H.U., & Carreño, A. (8/8/2024 - 8/11/2024). Comparative Analysis of AI Attitudes Among JMC Students in Brazil and the U.S. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Jona, B.T., & Paruzere, N. (2016). Hybrid (Broadloid) Newspapers & the Development of a Critical Mass: An analysis of the Popularity of the Masvingo Mirror Among Readers’. International Conference on Information Science in the Digital Era. Great Zimbabwe, Masvingo.