My Research
As a cultural studies scholar, my research focuses on the lived reality of media audiences (specifically women, women of color, or victims of domestic violence), how those women are depicted, and how they interpret and make meaning from the media they consume.
Featured publication
“What an invasion, an immense invasion”: Examining the adverse effects of true crime media on co-victims.
Through in-depth qualitative interviews with 20 people who identify as co-victims (friends/family members of missing people, victims, and/or perpetrators) spotlighted in true crime productions, this study addresses growing concerns regarding the ethics of true crime media and how the genre can be retraumatizing for those featured. This study focuses on algorithmic media consumption, fandom culture, and participatory audiences to demonstrate how the media environment has changed, encouraging exploitation and sensationalism for capitalistic gain. Co-victims identified five main issues with the true crime genre: (1) inaccuracies, (2) the sensationalization of tragedy, (3) loss of privacy due to media attention, (4) uncomfortable interactions with true crime consumers, including online trolls, and (5) lack of control over how these stories are produced or edited, often resulting in further harm.
RECENT PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS
Danielle C. Slakoff, Kelli S. Boling
“Media pressure is what makes law enforcement move”: Insights from co-victims about the positive impacts of true crime media attention.
Kelli S. Boling
“It’s that ‘There but for the grace of God go I’ piece of it”: Domestic violence survivors in true crime podcast audiences.
Kelli S. Boling, Jessica Walsh, Brian Petrotta, & Jason Stamm
“Perjurers, rapists, and zealots are ending abortion”: Sports journalists’ symbolic annihilation of women athletes on social media during the national loss of abortion rights.
Kelli S. Boling
“We can do better. We can be better.”: Journalists, counter-narratives, and advocacy in true crime podcasts on domestic violence.
Kelli S. Boling, Jessica Walsh
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled.” #scotus: Digital Journalism on abortion rights.
Kelli S. Boling
“The Supreme Court is poised to overturn #RoeVWade and I’m mad as hell.”: A politically charged feminist discourse analysis.
| Slakoff, D., & Boling, K. S. (2025). “What an invasion, an immense invasion”: Examining the adverse effects of true crime media on co-victims. Crime, Media and Culture.DOI: 10.1177/17416590251371618 | ||
| Slakoff, D., Boling, K. S. (2025). “Media pressure is what makes law enforcement move”: Insights from co-victims about the positive impacts of true crime media attention. Mass Communication & Society. DOI: 10.1080/15205436.2025.2549719 | ||
| Scovel, S., & Boling, K. S. (2025). Can you believe this was once a football school?: Social media fan discourse before, during and after Nebraska’s record-setting volleyball game. Communication & Sport. DOI: 10.1177/21674795251356927 | ||
| Choi, M., & Boling, K. S. (2025). Public policy communication in different sectors. Public Relations Journal. Article available online. | ||
| Boling, K. S. (2025). “The Supreme Court is poised to overturn #RoeVWade and I’m mad as hell.”: A politically charged feminist discourse analysis. Feminist Media Studies. DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2024.2436487 | ||
| Boling, K. S., Walsh, J., Petrotta, B., & Stamm, J. (2024). “Perjurers, rapists, and zealots are ending abortion”: Sports journalists’ symbolic annihilation of women athletes on social media during the national loss of abortion rights. Communication & Sport. DOI: 10.1177/21674795241261329 | ||
| Boling, K. S., Habecker, P., Kirkpatrick, C. E., Hample, J., Subramanian, R., Schlosser, A., & Jones, V. (2024). Addiction is not a choice.” #narcansaveslives: Collective voice in harm reduction on TikTok. Health Communication. DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2024.2366709 | ||
| Schlosser, A., Subramanian, R., Kirkpatrick, C. E., Butler, A. Boling, K. S., Hample, J., Habecker, P., & Jones, V. (2024). Algorithmic doors to community and the trap of visibility: TikTok for harm reduction activism in the U.S. overdose crisis. Contemporary Drug Problems, 51(2), 67-88.DOI: 10.1177/00914509241252031 | ||
| Boling, K. S. (2024). From critical pedagogy to communication activism pedagogy in a large lecture classroom: Increasing awareness, knowledge, and a desire for change. Howard Journal of Communications. DOI: 10.1080/10646175.2024.2305240 | ||
| Boling, K. S., & Walsh, J. (2023). “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled.” #scotus: Digital Journalism on abortion rights. Journalism Practice. DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2023.2298239 | ||
| Boling, K. S. (2023). “We can do better. We can be better.”: Journalists, counter-narratives, and advocacy in true crime podcasts on domestic violence. Critical Studies in Media Communication. DOI: 10.1080/15295036.2023.2265982 | ||
| Boling, K. S.(2022). “I’m not a journalist. I don’t think that I necessarily fall under the same rules that they do.”: Journalistic ethics in true crime podcast production. Ethical Space, 19(3/4 2022), 44-51. | ||
| Slakoff, D. C., Boling, K. S., & Tadros, E. (2022). “I just couldn’t cope with it, you know? I just couldn’t believe that she was gone”: The portrayal of co-victims’ grief in true crime podcasts about missing (and presumed killed) women. Journal of Family Violence. DOI: 10.1007/s10896-022-00471-w | ||
| Boling, K.S.(2022). “It’s that ‘There but for the grace of God go I’ piece of it”: Domestic violence survivors in true crime podcast audiences. Mass Communication & Society. DOI: 10.1080/15205436.2022.2061359 | ||
| Alharbi, K., & Boling, K. S. (2022). Saudi women take the wheel: A content analysis of how Saudi Arabian car companies reached women on social media. Journal of Current Issues & Research in Advertising. DOI:10.1080/10641734.2021.1995543 | ||
| Walker, D., & Boling, K. S. (2022). Black maternal mortality in the media: How journalists cover a deadly racial disparity.Journalism. DOI:10.1177/14648849211063361 | ||
| Boling, K. S., & Walker, D. (2021). How race and gender impact perceived objectivity of broadcast women of color on Twitter. Social Media + Society. DOI:10.1177/20563051211062921 | ||
| Boling, K. S., & Moscowitz, L. M. (2021). Truth, justice, and sexual harassment: A comparative analysis of the Op-Eds in the Hill-Thomas and Ford-Kavanaugh hearings. Journalism Studies. DOI:10.1080/1461670X.2021.1991836 | ||
| Boling, K. S. (2021). “We matter”: The cultural significance of a counter-narrative Black public affairs program in Columbia, S.C. Journalism History. DOI:10.1080/00947679.2021.1983348 | ||
| Boling, K. S. (2020). #ShePersisted, Mitch: A memetic critical discourse analysis on an attempted Instagram feminist revolution. Feminist Media Studies, 20(7), 966-982. DOI:10.1080/14680777.2019.1620821 | ||
| Boling, K. S., Hull, K., & Moscowitz, L. M. (2021). Missing, or just missed? Mediating loss in the Missing Richard Simmons podcast. Journal of Radio and Audio Media, 38(2), 254-274. DOI:10.1080/19376529.2019.1682585 | ||
| Boling, K. S. (2019). True crime podcasting: Journalism, justice, or entertainment? International Radio Journal, 17(2), 161-178. DOI: 10.1386/rjao_00003_1 | ||
| Boling, K. S., & Hull, K. (2018). Undisclosed information – Serial is My Favorite Murder: Examining motivations in the true crime podcast audience.Journal of Radio and Audio Media, 25(1), 92-108. DOI:10.1080/19376529.2017.1370714 | ||
| Mortensen, T., Hull, K., & Boling, K. S. (2017). Really Social Disaster: An examination of photo sharing on twitter during the #SCFlood.Visual Communication Quarterly, 24(4), 219-229. DOI:10.1080/15551393.2017.1388704 |
Boling, K. S. , Pardun, C. J., Barnes, B. E., & Broyles, S. J. (2025). Advertising Account Planning: New Strategies in the Digital Landscape, 2nd Ed. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Available online.
Boling, K. S. (2025). Podcasting Pedagogy: The power of sound, participation, and marginalized voices in a virtual classroom in Podcast Studies: Practice into Theory, Theory into Practice.https://muse.jhu.edu/book/131742
*Aubrey, A., & Boling, K. S. (2024). Black, Brown, and Financially Thriving: Redefining Economic Podcasting. In Weber & Dunham (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Business Journalism. London: Routledge DOI:10.4324/9781003298977
Boling, K. (2023). How the civil rights era brought diversity to television news. In Finneman & Pribanic-Smith (Eds.), Social Justice, Activism and Diversity in U.S. Media History. New York: Routledge DOI:10.4324/9781003299738
Hull, K., & Boling, K. S. (2018). “I was very intoxicated”: An Examination of the Image-Repair Discourse of Ryan Lochte Following the 2016 Olympics in Case Studies in Sport Communication: You Make the Call.
*Graduate Student Co-Author
White, L. R., Emmons, B., & Jones, V. K., Boling, K. S. (2025, August). Protecting Daughters or Protecting Women? Reporters cover abortion on the ballot. Presented at the 2025 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in San Francisco, CA.
Slakoff, D. C., & Boling, K. S. (2025, February). “This isn’t a slasher film. This isn’t a work of fiction.”: The impact of true crime on co-victims. Presented at the Western Society of Criminology Annual Conference in Seattle, WA.
Walsh, J., Boling, K. S., Stamm, J., & Petrotta, B. (2023, August). “Perjurers, rapists, and zealots are ending abortion”: Sports journalists’ reaction to the loss of abortion rights. Presented at the 2023 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Washington, D.C.
Boling, K. S. (2023, August). “The Supreme Court is poised to overturn #RoeVWade and I’m mad as hell.”: A politically charged feminist discourse analysis. Presented at the 2023 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Washington, D.C.
Boling, K. S. (2023, August). Critical pedagogy in a large lecture classroom: Increasing awareness, knowledge, and a desire for change. Presented at the 2023 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Washington, D.C.
Schlosser, A., Subramanian, R., Kirkpatrick, C., Boling, K. S., Hample, J., & Jones, V. (2023, April). #NarcanSavesLives: Strength and Solidarity in Youth Digital Activism in an Overdose Crisis. Presented at Harm Reduction International Conference 2023 (HR23) in Melbourne, Australia.
Schlosser, A., Subramanian, R., Kirkpatrick, C., Boling, K. S., Hample, J., & Jones, V. (2023, March). #NarcanSavesLives: Digital Assembly and the Social Construction of a Public Health Intervention. Presented at the 2023 Health Humanities Consortium Conference in Cleveland, OH.
Boling, K.S. (2022, June). “I’m not a journalist. I don’t think that I necessarily fall under the same rules that they do.”: Journalistic ethics in true crime podcast production. Presented at the 2022 Investigating true crime and the media conference at Newcastle University, UK.
Slakoff, D. C., & Boling, K.S. (2021, November). The portrayal of co-victims’ grief in true crime podcasts about missing women. Presented at the 2021 American Society of Criminology (ASC) Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL.
Boling, K.S. (2021, August). The power of a good story: True crime podcasts and the domestic violence survivors in their audiences. Presented at the 2021 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in New Orleans, LA.
Boling, K. S., & Walker, D. (2020, August). The impact of race, ethnicity, and gender on perceived objectivity of broadcasters on Twitter. Presented at the 2020 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in San Francisco, CA.
Walker, D., & Boling, K. S. (2020, August). Black maternal mortality in the media: How journalists cover a deadly racial disparity. Presented at the 2020 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in San Francisco, CA. First Place Student Paper, Minorities and Communication Division
Boling, K. S., & Moscowitz, L. M. (2020, August). Truth, justice, and sexual harassment: A comparative analysis of the Op-Eds in the Hill-Thomas and Ford-Kavanaugh hearings. Presented at the 2020 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in San Francisco, CA.
Alharbi, K., Pardun, C. J., & Boling, K. S. (2020, August). Saudi women take the wheel: A content analysis of how Saudi Arabian car companies reached women on social media. Presented at the 2020 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in San Francisco, CA.
Boling, K. S. (2019, August). Lost in translation: The disturbing decision to limit access to audio court files for podcasters. Presented at the 2019 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Toronto, Canada. Third Place Student Paper, Law & Policy Division
Boling, K. S., Hull, K., & Moscowitz, L. M. (2019, August). Missing, or just missed? Mediating loss in the Missing Richard Simmons podcast. Presented at the 2019 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Toronto, Canada.
Boling, K. S. (2019, May). #ShePersisted, Mitch: A memetic critical discourse analysis on an attempted Instagram feminist revolution. Presented at the annual International Communication Association (ICA) conference in Washington, D.C.
Boling, K. S. (2019, March). A “travesty of fundamental fairness” or a “mass moral reckoning”: An analysis of the Op-Ed discourse during the Hill-Thomas and Ford-Kavanaugh hearings. Presented at the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Southeast Colloquium in Columbia, S.C. Top Student Paper, Newspaper & Online News Division
Boling, K. S., Moscowitz, L. M., & Pardun, C. J. (2019, February). Eating for change: How media use and social justice impact consumer perceptions of ethical labels. Presented at the annual Interdisciplinary Conference at Winthrop University, Rock Hill, S.C.
Boling, K. S. (2018, August). “We matter”: The launching of a counter-narrative Black public affairs program in Columbia, S.C. Presented at the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Washington, D.C. Third Place Student Paper, History Division
Boling, K. S. (2018, August). Enjoying crime: Examining disposition theory in the true crime podcast audience. Presented at the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Washington, D.C.
Boling, K. S. (2018, March). “The Bad Guys”: Examining Consumer Perceptions and Media Myths about Registered Sex Offenders. Paper presented the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Southeast Colloquium in Tuscaloosa, AL.
Boling, K. S. (2018, March). Lost in translation: The disturbing decision to limit access to audio court files for podcasters. Paper presented the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Southeast Colloquium in Tuscaloosa, AL. Top Student Paper, Law and Policy Division
Boling, K. S. (2017, April). True Crime Podcasting: Journalism, Justice, or Entertainment? Paper presented at the Annual Conference for the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) in Las Vegas, NV.
Boling, K. S. (2017, April). Understanding the True Crime Podcast Audience: An Exploration of Uses and Gratifications. Paper presented at the annual Discover USC conference in Columbia, SC.
Boling, K. S. (2017, August). Undisclosed Information – Serial is My Favorite Murder: Examining Motivations in the True Crime Podcast Audience. Paper presented at the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Chicago, IL.
Walker, D., & Boling, K. S. (2017, August). “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot”: Media Portrayals of Race and Responsibility Framing in Police Shootings. Paper presented at the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Chicago, IL. Second Place Student Paper, Minorities and Communication Division
Boling, K. S. (Feb. 7, 2022). Cultural significance of a Black public affairs program. Journalism History. https://journalism-history.org/2022/02/07/boling-essay-cultural-significance-of-a-black-public-affairs-program/
Pardun, C. J., & Boling, K. S. (2020). Caveat Emptor. Journalism & Communication Monographs, 22(2), 160-163.