Introducing the FUS Faculty: Alessandro Martinisi

Assistant Professor, Media and Communication Studies

Ph.D. School of Media and Communication, The University of Leeds, The United Kingdom
M.Sc. in Communication Sciences, Major in Media Management, USI Universita’ della Svizzera Italiana, Switzerland
B.A. Faculty of Education Sciences, Universita di Torino, Italy

Office: Lowerre Academic Center, Office 10
Phone: +41 91 986 36 56
Email: amartinisi@fus.edu

Alessandro Martinisi is Assistant Professor of Media and Communication Studies. He received his Ph.D. from the School of Media and Communication at The University of Leeds in the UK with a thesis that explores the use of statistics in journalism practice. In 2018 his doctoral thesis received special mention for research excellence.

One strand of his research looks at the use of data in media storytelling and public discourse, with particular emphasis on data-driven journalism, science communication and constructive journalism. Another strand of research looks at possibilities to broaden the field of media criticism through the theoretical lenses of De-Westernization.

Prof. Martinisi helped universities in establishing the learning community as the core of their educational vision. He taught a variety of courses in universities based in Qatar, The Netherlands, The United Kingdom, Lithuania, and Italy developing a teaching portfolio that includes Political Communication in the Media, Media research methods, Health and Crisis Communication, to mention a few. He was also the recipient of grants awarded by CONACYT (National Council of Science and Technology of Mexico), British Council and Annenberg School of Communication.

He participated as a co-investigator in projects related to Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. Prior to joining Franklin, he was a postdoctoral researcher and project coordinator for a UK-wide project funded by AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) aiming to investigate how constructive journalism could support Covid-19 pandemic recovery in local and regional areas of the UK. He is a member of ECREA (European Communication Research and Education Association) and IAMCR (The International Association for Media and Communication Research).

Professional Experience

Visiting Lecturer, Northwestern University in Qatar, Doha.

Lecturer in Media, Breda University of Applied Sciences, Academy for Digital Entertainment, The Netherlands.

Lecturer and Research Fellow, KTU-Kaunas University of Technology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Lithuania.

Postdoctoral researcher and project coordinator, Bournemouth University, Faculty of Communication and Journalism, The United Kingdom.

2024-2025 Courses

COM 201	Fundamentals of Media Studies and Criticism	FALL 2024
Media pervades our social and private lives. We make it and in turn it makes us. This course offers an introduction to media studies, a field which seeks to understand and use media in complex and intentional ways. The course explores media as content, as an industry and as a social force. In this way, media is understood as both as an artifact (constituted by many parts) and as a set of complex processes (including production, distribution, regulation and consumption). Students will learn key vocabularies and concepts in and approaches to media studies that will help them to define, describe, and critique media artifacts and processes in a variety of written and spoken formats. In addition to equipping students with the skills to understand and critique media, this course encourages and provides students with the building blocks to produce media content. Students who successfully complete this course will be prepared to take advanced courses in media studies.
COM 238	Strategic Communication and Social Media: Theory and Practice	FALL 2024
The primary objective of this course is to introduce students to the basic concepts, theories and trends in the field of strategic communication, as well as its foundational discipline of media content development and social media strategies. Not only will students learn about academic principles such as public relations, persuasive communication, crisis management, ethics, and public opinion, but also how to apply these principles to the everyday real-world practice of strategic communication through the usage of analytical tools such as benchmarking and SWOT analysis. Students will also learn how to build a strategic communication plan on specific case studies. The course will include a media production component. (Recommended prerequisite: COM 105 or COM 201)
COM 308	Science Communication	FALL 2024
This course is designed to equip students with the essential skills and strategies to effectively communicate scientific concepts to diverse audiences. Emphasizing clarity, creativity, and engagement, the course delves into the challenges and opportunities in the field of science communication. It covers key topics like understanding audience perspectives, identifying and utilizing suitable media to convey scientific information, and the ethical considerations when communicating science. Interactive workshops and assignments will provide hands-on experience in crafting press releases and creating engaging social media content. Guest lectures from experienced science communicators will offer real-world insights. By the end of the course, students will have developed a portfolio showcasing their science communication projects.
COM 203	Communication Research	SPRING 2025
This course introduces students to quantitative and qualitative research methods as they apply to communication and media studies. Students will acquire skill in examining various communication and media issues by conducting an original research project.
COM 218W	Writing and Reporting for the Media	SPRING 2025
This course offers an introduction to the fundamentals of media writing and news reporting. Students will learn the art and craft of writing clear, concise, and accurate news stories and reports for various media platforms, including print, broadcast, and digital. Drawing on foundational concepts, students will develop skills in researching, interviewing, fact-checking, and producing newsworthy content. Emphasis will be placed on storytelling techniques, ethics, information evaluation and adapting writing for different audiences and formats. Students will engage in practical writing exercises, real-world reporting, and critical media analysis. (This writing-intensive course counts towards the Academic Writing requirements.)
COM 235T	Pizza, Spaghetti and Other Stories: Food Journalism and Culture	SPRING 2025
The importance of food is clear: we eat food to stay alive and thrive. Food, its production, commodification, preparation and consumption is and it has long been a place of cultural formation, negotiation and mediatization. In this sense food journalism plays a crucial role in today's journalism practice around the world in attracting a larger and diversified readership. The course will introduce food through its mediated representation involving journalism but also film, television and the Internet. The topics include the politics of celebrity chefs, food TV shows, restaurant reviews, lifestyle journalism, and other food media's place in the "world of goods". It will also include the social dimensions of food in media by engaging with issues of multinational power, globalization and inequality. The travel component to Italy will include visits to Milan, Parma, and Bologna. This will offer a great opportunity for students to develop insights into the field of food journalism and to experience the excellence of the Italian food with the aim of connecting food texts, culture and writing.

Areas of Research:

His research focuses on emerging approaches to journalism such as data-driven journalism and constructive journalism, and his publications include "Statistics and the Quest for Quality Journalism: A Study in Quantitative Reporting," and "Overcoming the objectivity of the senses: Enhancing journalism practice through Eastern philosophies." He will bring his cutting-edge research and experiences as a media practitioner to teach a variety of courses including journalism, media strategies, and media production that are informed by theories and research. 

Publications:

Books:

Martinisi, A & Lugo-Ocando J. (2020) Statistics and the quest for Quality Journalism: A study in Quantitative reporting. Anthem Press.

Peer-reviewed:

Martinisi, A. (2021). De-Westernising Communication Sciences: An essay in memoriam of Prof. Shelton Gunaratne (1949-2019). The Journal of Communication and Media Studies, 6(2), 13-18.

Weber, J, Warmelink, H., Martinisi, A., Buijtenweg, T., & Mayer, I. S. (2019). Learning Efficacy among Executives and Students of an Organizational Growrg Game, Neo-Simulation and Gaming Toward Active Learning, 129-136, Springer: Singapore.

Martinisi, A., & Lugo-Ocando, J. (2015). Overcoming the objectivity of the senses: Enhancing journalism practice through Eastern philosophies. International Communication Gazette, 77(5), 439-455.

Book chapters:

Lugo-Ocando J. & Martinisi A (2022). Lies, Damned lies and disinformation in the Global South: examining the enduring legacy of statistics and misinformation, Fake-News and propaganda. In: Wasserman H., Rumors, false news and disinformation in the Global South, Wiley Blackwell.

Martinisi, A. (2017). Understanding Quality of Statistics in News Stories: A Theoretical Approach from the Audience's Perspective. In Handbook of Research on Driving STEM Learning with Educational Technologies (pp. 485-505). IGI Global.

Journal articles:

Martinisi A., (forthcoming 2024) Against the apparatus. Vilém Flusser and the nature of journalism. [submitted]

Martinisi A. (forthcoming 2024) What the hell is happening? The case of crisis reporting in Italy. A news analysis of 2021-2022 earthquakes and floods. [submitted]

Ghezzi, P., Giglietto, F., & Martinisi, A. (2023). Political polarization in the frequency British newspapers mention scientists with different views on COVID-19. (Preprint on osf.io)

Palatta, F., Macedo, A. C., Marcacci, F., Martinisi, A., de Freitas Pereira Angelo Durço, D., Neto, R. C. B., & Ghezzi, P. (2023, February 9). Reporting on scientific studies in newspaper articles on COVID-19 in Italy and the US: missing citations and information bubbles. (Preprint on osf.io)

Conference proceedings:

Martinisi A (2018), Quality of statistics in the news. European Conference in Quality in Official Statistics. Eurostat and European Commission. Krakow, June.

Martinisi, A. (2013). Data Journalism and its role in open government. In: CHALLENGES, SOLUTIONS, KNOWLEDGE MODELS IN E-GOVERNANCE, Technical University Sofia.

Other:

Conferences:

2022, Constructive Journalism in times of social change. International Conference on Communication and Media. National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland (TBC).

2022, Fighting Against the machine: The anatomy of a solutions journalism campaign across local news outlets in the UK. PSA (Political Studies Association) University of York, United Kingdom (TBC).

2019, Journalism and the controversy on “quality statistics”. International Conference on Media and Communication. University of Bonn, Germany.

2016, The journalistic dimension of statistics. Reporting human development and its quantification. International Conference in Applied Statistics, Slovenia.

2014, The identity of the data-journalist between professionalism and professionalization. Statistics in Journalism Practice and Education, University of Sheffield.

2013, What quality in Data Journalism? Assessing quality parameters in data-driven stories. A theoretical framework. 19th International Conference of the Spanish Society of Journalism, Journalism and Democracy in the Digital Era, University Jaume I°, Castelló, June.

2013, The contribution of Data Journalism in representing the dissent. The case study of London riots 2011. 5th annual conference of the Department of Media and Communication of University of Westminster, London.

2013, Balancing risk and innovation in ‘datafying’ the news. 6th International Meeting research in Information and Communication, Journalism and Semantic Web, MediaLab Prado, Madrid.