Rate My Professor Aaron Veenstra

Aaron Veenstra is an Associate Professor in Multimedia Journalism within the Communications faculty at Florida Atlantic University's School of Communication and Multimedia Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before joining FAU in the Fall of 2019, Dr. Veenstra taught for ten years at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, serving as Acting Associate Dean for the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts from January 2017 to June 2019. Bringing a professional background in web development, his research draws from the social psychological tradition in mass communication. He focuses on how political and other social identities shape the ways individuals seek out and interpret news information, particularly in the digital environment where information has become more abundant and accessible. His expertise encompasses political communication, media effects, online communities, social identity, and cognitive bias. Dr. Veenstra employs quantitative methods to analyze how social and political identities impact media and political campaign outcomes, with studies addressing topics such as fracking, the anti-vaxx movement, and electoral politics.

Dr. Veenstra has made substantial contributions to academic literature through numerous publications. Among his most cited works are 'Digital Democracy: Reimagining Pathways to Political Participation' (Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 2010; 723 citations), 'Reading Lasswell's Model of Communication Backward: Three Scholarly Misconceptions' (Mass Communication and Society, 2015; 194 citations), 'The Internet and Anti-War Activism: A Case Study of Information, Expression, and Action' (Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 2006; 156 citations), and 'Time, Place, Technology: Twitter as an Information Source in the Wisconsin Labor Protests' (Computers in Human Behavior, 2014; 71 citations). Recent outputs include the book 'Press and Democratic Backsliding: How Journalism Has Failed the Public and How It Can Revive Democracy' (2024) and 'Journalism Students' Use, Expectations, and Understanding of Generative AI Tools' (2024). With over 1,000 citations across his oeuvre, his scholarship has notably advanced understanding in political communication and media psychology. An affiliate of the FAU PolCom Lab, Dr. Veenstra contributes to FAU/Mainstreet Research polls analyzing Florida voter priorities and political races.