Student and faculty team up to publish research

Dani Plushinky

Danielle Pluchinsky, a Sports Media major, collaborated with her advisor and professor, Dr. Tim Mirabito, on an article that appeared in an issue of Communication & Sport.  “News routines in the TV sports department: Shifting expectations and technology in an increasingly digital landscape” examines the evolving landscape of legacy media and how sports journalists are adapting to those changes and involved interviews with 30 journalists from across the country to gain perspective on this important issue.  Communication & Sport is a leading scholarly journal in the sports media category. 

Danielle is from Allentown, PA. and likes the flexibility of the Sports Media major.  She knew that she wanted to work in sport and that she was passionate about media, but wasn't entirely sure what kind of media best suited her. 

"I knew I made the right choice because I am extremely satisfied with the program. Since my time at Ithaca College, I have been the sports editor of the Ithacan and the Vice President of our school's Association for Women in Sports Media chapter. I'm currently a student worker in our college's athletic communications department, where I had previously interned."

Danielle also interned with the Binghamton Devils and the Rio Ferdinand Foundation and will be spending a semester at Colgate University in their athletic communications department.

Prof Tim Mirabito

Dr. Tim Mirabito is a graduate of the Park School of Communications. After graduating from IC, he worked in local television, radio, and newspaper around Central New York before going to work in the University of Miami's athletics department in Coral Gables, Florida. There, while he worked toward a master's degree, he developed a passion for teaching and research and subsequently chose to pursue a doctorate at the University of Tennessee. His research interests include: the intersection of sport and media during adverse sociological events, enabling/disabling language use surrounding athletes with disabilities, and news routines - specifically in an increasingly digital landscape. It was his goal to return to South Hill to help aspiring sport media students realize their goals. 

The impetus of this project stemmed from Tim and Dani's shared interest of the process of journalism and how external pressures can impact practitioners' ability to tell comprehensive stories. Dani was a student in Tim's introduction to journalism, visual journalism, and sports publications classes, which furthered collaborative discussions on the topic. Dani was integral in recruiting participants, conducting interviews, coding, and copy editing. They are currently working on another research project that involves contrasting media coverage surrounding the Black September hostage crisis during the 1972 Munich Olympics and the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.