Gardner, Thomas N.

Thomas N. Gardner is Associate Professor of Communication at Westfield State University. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Department of Communications at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. An MPA from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, a MA in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Georgia, and a BA in Sociology from the University of Virginia.

Media Rhetoric of Law and Order: How abc Framed the Mumia Abu-Jamal Story

2010 0-7734-4683-4
This work presents a case study of journalism as persuasion through a triangulated examination of ABC 20/20’s story “Hollywood’s Unlikely Hero” (December 1998), which reports on the death penalty case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. The methodology includes rhetorical analysis, experimental design, and focus group audience research. It also examines the impact of a media literacy intervention on news reception by showing the video “Framing an Execution: the Media and Mumia Abu-Jamal” and measuring its effects on audience perceptions of the 20/20 story.

Each book includes a DVD copy of the “Framing an Execution: the Media and Mumia Abu-Jamal”.