About

Ryan J. Hurley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at NC State University. He is originally from Minnesota, where he completed his Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies at Concordia College. He earned his Master of Science degree at Kansas State University and completed his Ph.D. in Communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Hurley has prior experience as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Wake Forest University before joining NC State. His research primarily investigates the area of communication known as 'media content and effects.' His work explores how health-related information is presented and perceived in online news, including topics such as cancer information, racial portrayals, direct-to-consumer drug advertisements, and uncertainty management processes in women living with HPV. Dr. Hurley's contributions include examining the impact of media coverage on public perceptions of health issues and the influence of search engine algorithms on health news information received by Internet users. He has authored a book titled 'A Researcher’s Toolbox: Foundational Methods in Communication' and has an extensive publication record with numerous citations. His research aims to understand the intersection between mass communication and health issues, emphasizing the role of digital media in shaping public understanding.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Medicine
• Internet privacy
• Social psychology
• Advertising

Selected publications

• When Public Institutions Betray Women: News Coverage of Military Sexual Violence Against Women 1991-2013

  Digital Commons (Providence College) · 2017-01-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Women’s movement into sectors of society that have previously excluded them can be a cause of triumph. The institutions that receive them, however, often erect further barriers to their participation. This study of the intersection of two such institutions, the military and journalism, explores the nature of news coverage of sexual violence toward women in the military over a 22 year period.

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• An exploration into the uses and gratifications of media for transgender individuals.

  Psychology of Popular Media Culture · 2016-06-30 · 41 citations

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• Celebrity Influence and Identification: A Test of the Angelina Effect

  Journal of Health Communication · 2015-07-20 · 71 citations

  articleSenior author

  Angelina Jolie's announcement that she is a BRCA1 carrier and has had a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy was met with widespread support as well as speculation about its possible impact on the public. These speculations were the subject of a Time magazine cover story titled “The Angelina Effect” (Kluger et al., 2013 Jolie, A. (2013, May 14). My medical choice. Retrieved from The New York Times website: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/opinion/my-medical-choice.html?_r=0 [Google Scholar]). Although there is anecdotal evidence to support this hypothesized Angelina effect, empirical tests are lacking. To explore possible links between Angelina's announcement and public health, we surveyed 356 adults immediately after the announcement. Guided by a model of celebrity influence, the survey assessed participants’ demographics and health history, identification and parasocial interaction with Jolie, and genetic testing intentions. Results supported the model's predictions and provided preliminary evidence of an Angelina effect.

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• Framing Cancer for Online News: Implications for Popular Perceptions of Cancer

  Journal of Communication · 2015-11-05 · 46 citations

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  News frames can influence how people think about disease. In a pair of studies, we demonstrate how contemporary news outlets frame cancer and how exposure to common frames can affect news audiences' perceptions of those who suffer from cancer. First, we examine the current landscape of frame usage in online cancer news, employing frames ideally suited to the depiction of health and disease. We compare our results with previously published research in this news domain. Second, we employ these frames in a multimessage experiment to assess the influence of cancer news framing on individuals' perceptions about cancer, cancer interventions, and those with cancer. We conclude with a discussion of implications for framing research and health news production.

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• Viewer Ethnicity Matters: Black Crime in TV News and Its Impact on Decisions Regarding Public Policy

  Journal of Social Issues · 2015-03-01 · 48 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Content analyses have consistently documented the disproportionate portrayal of Black Americans as criminals in the news. This experiment examines the impact of such portrayals on consumers by investigating the relationship between viewer ethnicity, viewing Black criminal suspects in the news, and beliefs related to public policy. Participants viewed a 30‐minute local newscast containing crime stories featuring a majority of Black suspects, White suspects, or no crime stories. Those exposed to crime stories featuring a majority of Black suspects were more likely to rate a nondescript inmate as personally culpable (i.e., unable to be rehabilitated). An interaction between participant ethnicity and treatment condition revealed that ethnic minority group members who view a majority of Black criminals demonstrated significantly lower police support than other participants. These data suggest a complex relationship between exposure to Black crime, racial/ethnic‐group membership, and crime‐related perceptions and have implications for priming and spreading activation.

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• The Information Management Processes of Women Living with HPV

  Journal of Health Communication · 2014-02-28 · 18 citations

  articleSenior author

  The human papillomavirus (HPV) represents a significant public health burden because of its widespread prevalence, its links to genital warts and cancers, and the negative psychosocial impact of HPV infection and diagnosis. Scholars have attributed some of these negative effects to insufficient knowledge and information about HPV, prompting research on women's HPV information preferences; however, little is known about how women obtain, avoid, and use this information. To address this lacuna, we designed a study to trace the information management processes of women with HPV. Our analysis of interviews with 25 women living with HPV revealed a common sequence of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to the HPV diagnosis. The authors review these findings and articulate their relevance and importance to research, theory, and practice in the discussion.

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• News Coverage of Sexual Assault and Rape in the U.S. Military: From Tailhook to the Invisible War

  2014-05-21

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• Public Estimates of Cancer Frequency: Cancer Incidence Perceptions Mirror Distorted Media Depictions

  Journal of Health Communication · 2014-01-21 · 33 citations

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  Compared with incidence rates, certain cancers are over- or underrepresented in news coverage. Past content analytic research has consistently documented these news distortions, but no study has examined whether they are related to public perception of cancer incidence. Adults (N = 400) completed a survey with questions about perceived cancer incidence, news consumption, and attention to health news. Cancer incidence perceptions paralleled previously documented news distortions. Overrepresented cancers were overestimated (e.g., blood, head/brain) and underrepresented cancers were underestimated (e.g., male reproductive, lymphatic, thyroid, and bladder). Self-reported news consumption was related to perceptual distortions such that heavier consumers were more likely to demonstrate distorted perceptions of four cancers (bladder, blood, breast, and kidney). Distortions in risk perception and news coverage also mirrored discrepancies in federal funding for cancer research. Health care professionals, journalists, and the public should be educated about these distortions to reduce or mitigate potential negative effects on health behavior and decision making.

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• Online Cancer News: Trends Regarding Article Types, Specific Cancers, and the Cancer Continuum

  Health Communication · 2013-01-28 · 33 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  The Internet is one of the fastest growing news sources for many worldwide (Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, 2011), and cancer news is one frequently consumed form of online health information (Google, Inc., 2007). This content analysis of online cancer news (n = 862) retrieved from the four most frequented news websites describes trends regarding specific cancers, stages in the cancer continuum, and types of news articles. In general, treatment information received the most attention in online cancer news. Breast cancer received the most attention of each specific cancer, followed by digestive and genitourinary cancers. Research reports and profiles of people (more than 60% of which were about celebrities) were the most common article types. Risk, uncertainty, and clinical trials were also present across several types of cancer news articles. Implications of content trends are discussed as relevant to consumers, producers, health campaign designers, and researchers alike.

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• Measurement and analysis of child pornography trafficking on P2P networks

  2013-05-13 · 36 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Peer-to-peer networks are the most popular mechanism for the criminal acquisition and distribution of child pornography (CP). In this paper, we examine observations of peers sharing known CP on the eMule and Gnutella networks, which were collected by law enforcement using forensic tools that we developed. We characterize a year's worth of network activity and evaluate different strategies for prioritizing investigators' limited resources. The highest impact research in criminal forensics works within, and is evaluated under, the constraints and goals of investigations. We follow that principle, rather than presenting a set of isolated, exploratory characterizations of users.

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Frequent coauthors

• Jakob D. Jensen

  Huntsman Cancer Institute

  7 shared

• Kami A. Kosenko

  North Carolina State University

  5 shared

• Travis L. Dixon

  4 shared

• Angeline Sangalang

  4 shared

• Julius Matthew Riles

  University of Missouri

  3 shared

• Jo Ellen Stryker

  3 shared

• Cortney M. Moriarty

  College of Mount Saint Vincent

  3 shared

• Kristina Wilma Frances Bell

  2 shared

Labs

• Research and EngagementPI