Rate My Professor Marcus Funk

Marcus Funk is an Associate Professor of Mass Communication and Associate Professor, Journalism in the Department of Mass Communication at Sam Houston State University, where he has served since August 2014 and currently leads the Multiplatform Journalism track. He earned a Ph.D. in Journalism from The University of Texas at Austin in 2013, with a dissertation titled “Analyzing Content Deviance in American Community Journalism Websites and Social Media”; an M.A. in Journalism from the same university in 2010, with a thesis on locally generated content in small U.S. newspapers; and a B.A. in Communication, Political Science, and International Studies from Trinity University in 2007. Prior to his academic career, Funk worked as a journalist, including as Capitol Reporter and Freelancer for Community Impact Newspaper covering the Texas Legislature (2011–2013), Editor of The Elgin Courier (2010), Legislative Reporter for The Dallas Morning News Austin Bureau (2009), Government Reporter for The Terrell Tribune and Rockwall County News (2007–2008), and Government Reporter for The Kerrville Daily Times (2007). He also served as Managing Editor of the Trinitonian student newspaper at Trinity University (2006–2007) and interned at the U.S. Department of State in Bahrain (2006).

Funk's research interests encompass community journalism, agenda setting, media literacy, digital journalism, podcasting, normative deviance in media, local news coverage, and social media gatekeeping. He has authored or co-authored 19 peer-reviewed journal articles and one book chapter, published in outlets such as Journalism Studies, Mass Communication and Society, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, New Media & Society, and The Agenda Setting Journal. Notable publications include "Centrist Language, Camouflaged Ideology: Assembled Text-Based Content on Mainstream and Ideological News Podcasts" (Journalism Studies, 2022, with B. Speakman), "Calm During the Storm: Micro-Assemblage, Meteorology and Community Building on a Local Independent Weather Blog During Hurricane Harvey" (Journalism Practice, 2022), "Setting a Q-uestionable Attribute Agenda: QAnon, far-right congressional candidates and irrational domains" (The Agenda Setting Journal, 2021, with B. Speakman), "Strangers on a Theoretical Train: Inter-Media Agenda Setting, Community Structure and Local News Coverage" (Journalism Studies, 2017, with M. McCombs), and "Decoding the Podaissance: Identifying Community Journalism Practices in Newsroom and Avocational Podcasts" (#ISOJ Journal, 2017). At SHSU, he teaches courses in podcasting, news editing, media literacy, digital journalism, research methods, and multimedia production; aided in launching Digital Media MA and MFA programs; and advised The Houstonian student newspaper from 2014 to 2018. He has also served as Communication Merit Badge Instructor for Scouts@Sam in 2016.