Kirstin Pellizzaro’s research centers around journalists’ use of social media and self-disclosures on their professional pages. A journalist’s job is to tell the stories of others but what happens when they discuss themselves? Her dissertation focuses on journalists who have suffered illness or personal hardship and how they navigate between a profoundly personal expression of firsthand events while maintaining their professional persona with their audience.
Other research focuses on parasocial interaction with online audiences. Pellizzaro tries to understand what leads audience members to build interpersonal relationships with a journalist(s) through social media.
When teaching journalistic skills, Pellizzaro, believes repetition and discussion are key. She creates exercises that represent real work scenarios that our journalism students will encounter after graduation. The media content they produce can only get better through consistent practice and discussion about what went well and what could be better. Pellizzaro comes to USC from Arizona State University where she is finishing her Ph.D. in journalism and mass communications. At ASU, she brought years of professional experience to her Broadcast News Producing classes. At USC, she will continue to bring her industry experience to her Intermediate reporting course.