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Home Authors Karyn Riddle

Karyn Riddle

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Titles with Aresta: The Media's Impact on children: A Handbook for Parents, Educators and Policymakers

Karyn Riddle is an Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She joined the department in the Fall of 2007.

Karyn received her undergraduate degree in Advertising with a minor in French from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1996. After graduation, Karyn worked in the media planning department of DDB Chicago for 5 years. She planned and executed national advertising campaigns for clients such as Betty Crocker Desserts, Hamburger Helper, Golden Grahams, JCPenney, FTD Flowers, and Lands’ End. She also contributed to the media plan for a successful new business pitch for Dell computers.

In 2001, Karyn left DDB Chicago and headed west to the University of California, Santa Barbara. She obtained her MA and PhD from the Department of Communication, focusing on the effects of exposure to media violence. During her time at UCSB, Karyn presented at numerous national and international conferences, receiving a top three student paper award from the Mass Communication Division of NCA in 2006. Her dissertation advanced a recent line of research attempting to provide a psychological explanation for the effects postulated by cultivation theory.

Currently, Karyn teaches classes related to her professional experience (e.g., Strategic Media Planning, Strategic Communication Campaigns) as well as classes related to her research interests (e.g., Mass Media and Youth, Effects of Mass Communication). One of her current research projects focuses on children’s fear responses to the mass media, with an emphasis on frightening images of violence and conflict in the broadcast news. She is also studying adults’ long-term memories for childhood exposure to violent and frightening entertainment media. Karyn is interested in understanding the differential effects of repeat exposure to mundane, sanitized violence versus exposure to one or a few highly memorable, vivid portrayals of graphic violence. She is also developing a scale for measuring long-term memories of everyday exposure to the mass media.

Karyn lives in Madison with her husband Mike and son Owen.