Dr Timothy Neff

My teaching and research span multiple dimensions of journalism and media systems: digital news production; journalism ethics and regulation; the sociology of journalism; analysis of local, national, and trasnational media systems; media portrayals of climate change; and media ownership. 

I was a journalist for 20 years in the U.S. — both in print and online — before completing my Ph.D. in Media, Communication and Culture at New York University. I was a 2019-2020 fellow at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and a 2020-2021 postdoctoral research fellow at the Media, Inequality and Change Center at University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication.

My research on journalism, democracy, public spheres, and climate change has been published in multiple journals: Journal of Communication; Environmental Communication; The International Journal of Press/Politics; International Journal of Communication; New Media & Society; Media, Culture & Society; Journalism Studies; and the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review.

I am an associate with the International Institute for Sustainable Development, covering U.N. talks, such as World Urban Forum 11 in Poland and climate negotiations at COP27 in Egypt, for IISD's Earth Negotiations Bulletin.

Neff, T., Popiel, P., & Pickard V. (2022). Philadelphia's news media system: Which audiences are underserved. Journal of Communication, 72(4), 476-487. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqc018

Neff, T. (2022). Media and cultural systems: Connecting national new dynamics and the cultures of social problems through a case study of climate change in the U.S. and U.K. Media, Culture & Society, 44(7), 1272-1289. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437221099613

Neff, T., & Jemielniak, D. (2022). How do transnational spheres emerge? Comparing news and social media networks during the Madrid climate talks. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221081426

Neff, T., & Pickard, V. (2021). Funding democracy: Public media and democratic health in 33 countries. The International Journal of Press/Politics. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612211060255

Neff, T., & Benson, R. (2021). News you can use to promote your interests: Media ownership forms and economic instrumentalism. Journalism Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2021.1986115

Neff, T., Kaiser, J., Pasquetto, I., Jemielniak, D., Dimitrakopoulou, D., Grayson, S., Gyenes, N., Ricaurte, P., Ruiz-Soler, J., & Zhang, A. (2021). Vaccine hesitancy in online spaces: A scoping review of the research literature, 2000-2020. Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review, 2(5). https://doi.org/10.37016/mr-2020-82

Neff, T. (2020). Transnational problems and national fields of journalism: Comparing content diversity in U.S. and U.K. news coverage of the Paris climate agreement. Environmental Communication, 14(6), 730-743. https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2020.1716032

Neff, T. (2020). Claims-making and transnational spaces: Contesting the scope of climate discourse on Twitter. In E. Neveu and M. Surdez (Eds.), Globalizing Issues: How Claims, Frames, and Problems Cross Borders. Palgrave Macmillan

Benson. R., Neff, T., and Hessérus, M. (2018). Media ownership and public service news: How strong are institutional logics? The International Journal of Press/Politics, 23(3), 275-298. https://doi.org/10.1177/194016121878274

Benson. R., Powers, M., & Neff, T. (2017). Public media autonomy and accountability: Best and worst policy practices in 12 leading democracies. International Journal of Communication, 10, 1-22.

JO1002: Journalism Ethics and Regulation

JO2004: Magazine Journalism

JO2006: Digital and Social Media Journalism

MS2000: The Production of News