An award-winning communications professional, Adornato worked for 15 years in the journalism, digital media, and public relations fields before transitioning to higher education. He served as a television news anchor, reporter, and producer and worked at various stations in New York, including WSTM-TV, the NBC affiliate in Syracuse, where he anchored the market’s top-rated morning news broadcast.

His research focuses on how the use of social media by journalists raises new ethical and professional dilemmas. Adornato has presented his work at national conferences of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication as well as the Broadcast Education Association.

He is also interested in news outlets’ coverage of disability issues, particularly framing of disability stories and the use of language in those reports. He has conducted workshops on this topic for journalists.