Three Identities

Minjie Li, Ph.D.
Media Diversity Scholar | Educator | Digital Communicator

Assistant Professor, Department of Communication
College of Arts and Letters
The University of Tampa, Tampa, Florida, USA

MEDIA DIVERSITY SCHOLAR
Research Areas: Media Diversity, Media Psychology, Gender and Sexual Minorities, and Intersectionality
NCA Doctoral Honors Fellow
USC Annenberg Diversity in Media and Culture Fellow
4 top paper awards from AEJMC (solo-author)
Published in academic journals
Former Manager, Media Effects Lab at LSU

EDUCATOR
Instructor of Record, Multiculturalism and the Media, Visual Communication, Multicultural and Prosocial Strategic Communication.
Promising Professor Award First-Place Recipient, AEJMC Mass Communication & Society

DIGITAL COMMUNICATOR
Former Interactive Designer and Digital Journalist, 2008 Olympics Official Website
Visual Communicator (Photojournalism, Multimedia Storytelling, Data Visualization, Graphic Design, Video Production, Web/App Design)
Published by Peter Lang Publishing
Best of Digital Award, AEJMC

[Publication]

Intermedia Attribute Agenda Setting in the Context of Issue-Focused Media Events: Caitlyn Jenner and transgender reporting

On April 24, 2015, Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner confirmed her transgender identity on the 20/20 Special: Bruce Jenner—The Interview with Diane Sawyer and started her own reality show, I am Cait. This study identifies patterns of second-level intermedia agenda setting in the framing of transgender issues, examining the extent to which Jenner’s high-profile planned media events about her gender transition influence how national print newspapers and television report transgender-related stories and the salience of certain story attributes. More specifically, through a comparative quantitative content analysis, this study found that transgender-related reports appearing after Jenner’s interview were more likely to (1) mention alternative non-binary gender discourses to highlight transgender subjectivity, (2) take the intersectionality perspective to address the complexity of transgender issues from the aspects of race, class, and sexuality differences, (3) differentiate transgender issues from LGB (lesbian, gay, and bisexual) issues, and (4) take in-depth approaches to report the stories. However, transwomen are still disproportionally represented and sensationalized in the media, while transmen have received no significantly increase in media representation in national newspapers and television. (Caitlyn Jenner image credit: Vanity Fair)