Megan Ann Duncan, Ph.D.
Associate professor
Megan Duncan (Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2018) is an associate professor in the School of Communication at Virginia Tech. She is part of the Journalism & Mass Communication Division, and has taught courses to communication, journalism and sports media & analytics students, as well as graduate students. Her research focuses on how partisans judge the credibility of and engage with the news. Using survey-embedded experiments, surveys, and other quantitative methods, she’s interested in knowing more about audiences, their perceptions of the news, how they form opinions, and how to use this knowledge to make democracy stronger.
Secondarily, I’m interested in sports media and issues of diversity, especially how we can improve diversity in sports media through university sports journalism majors. Because of this, I have taught courses on sports media & gender, presented results of my research at a national conference, and held a sold-out community event celebrating the history of Title IX at Virginia Tech.
Recent research
Duncan, M., Perryman, M., & Shaughnessy, B. (2023). Same scandal, different standards: The effect of partisanship on expectations of news reports about whistleblowers. Online first from Mass Communication & Society. 26(2), 201-226. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2021.1936558
Duncan, M. (2022). Selective rating: Partisan bias in crowdsourced news rating systems. Journal of Information Technology and Politics. 13(9), 360-375. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2021.1997867
Duncan, M. (2022). What’s in a label? Negative credibility labels in partisan news. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly. 99(2), 390-413. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699020961856
Research in the news
Scripps News Service – “What impact will the Taylor Swift endorsement have?” Sept. 13, 2024.
ABC News – “How Taylor Swift’s endorsement could shape the 2024 election.” Sept. 12. 2024.
Associate Press – “Departure of Murdoch as Fox leader comes as conservative landscape is increasingly fractured.” Sept. 22, 2023.
Associated Press – “Vice Media files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the latest in a string of digital media setbacks.” May 16, 2023.
Associated Press – “Will Fox settlement alter conservative media? Apparently not.” April 22, 2023.
New York Times. – “How could I ever love Michigan State?” Oct. 30, 2021.
Washington Post – “Is election night broken? TV news stuck to old routines amid voting upheaval – and confusion followed.” Nov. 15, 2020.
Megan Ann Duncan 