David Weaver

Biography

Professor Weaver was on the faculty of the School of Journalism from 1974 to 2011, teaching mainly research methods and political communication to graduate students, and in earlier years beginning newswriting, newspaper editing, and public opinion to undergraduates. He earned his bachelors and masters degrees in journalism from Indiana University in the 1960s, and his Ph.D. in mass communication research from the University of North Carolina in 1974. He worked on four daily newspapers in Indiana (including the Indiana Daily Student) and North Carolina, and served nearly two years in the U.S. Army (10 months in S. Vietnam) before joining the Indiana faculty in August of 1974. He was selected as the first Roy W. Howard Research Professor in 1988 and awarded the rank of Distinguished Professor in December 2010. He officially retired from the Journalism faculty at the end of December 2011.  During his career, he published 16 books, more than 100 journal articles, and more than 60 book chapters about journalists, media agenda setting, media credibility, voter learning from media, and global journalists.

Past Positions

Reporter, Copy Editor and Assistant Editor, Indiana Daily Student (Bloomington, IN), 1966-68; Wire Editor and Reporter, Courier-Tribune (Bloomington, IN), 1968; Copy Editor, Post-Tribune (Gary, IN), 1968; information officer, U.S. Army, 1970-71 (Fort Bragg, NC, and Long Binh, S. Vietnam); Assistant Wire Editor, The Chapel Hill Newspaper (NC), 1973;  Assistant, Associate, Full Professor and Distinguished Professor, School of Journalism, Indiana University, 1974-2011.

Teaching and Research Areas

Research methods, media and politics, public opinion and mass media, media agenda setting, research on journalists, use of social science methods in reporting.

Research Summary

Working on a book based on the fifth national study of U.S. journalists in 2022 with Professors Lars Willnat of Syracuse University and G. Cleveland Wilhoit of Indiana University as part of the continuing American Journalist project that began in the early 1980s in the School of Journalism at Indiana University.

Recent publications include:

•  Lars Willnat, David H. Weaver, and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, “The American Journalist in the Digital Age: How journalists and the public think about journalism in the United States,” Journalism Studies, 20, 3 (March 2019):  423-441.  https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2017.1387071
• David H. Weaver, Lars Willnat, and G. Cleveland Wilhoit, “The American Journalist in the Digital Age:  Another Look at U.S. News People,” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 96, 1 (March 2019):  101-130. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699018778242
• David H. Weaver, “Demographics of Journalists,” in Tim P. Vos and Folker Hanusch, eds., The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2019), pp. 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118841570.iejs0224
• Lars Willnat, David H. Weaver, and Cleve Wilhoit, “The American Journalist Under Attack:  Key Findings 2022,”  S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University, April 2022, pp. 1-29.  https://www.theamericanjournalist.org/post/american-journalist-findings
• Mike Schmierbach, Maxwell McCombs, Sebastian Valenzuela, James W. Dearing, Lei Guo, Shanto Iyengar, Spiro Kiousis, Gerald M. Kosicki, Sharon Meraz, Dietram A. Scheufele, Elizabeth Stoycheff, Chris Vargo, David H. Weaver, and Lars Willnat, “Reflections on a Legacy:  Thoughts from Scholars   about Agenda-Setting Past and Future,” Mass Communication and Society, 25, 4 (July 2022):  500-527.
• David H. Weaver, “Taking the Long View:  The Role of Replication in Research,” Journalism & Communication Monographs, 25, 2 (Summer 2023): 109-116.
• Taeyoung Lee, Thomas J. Johnson, and David H. Weaver, “Navigating the Coronavirus Infodemic:  Exploring the Impact of Need for Orientation, Epistemic Beliefs and Type of Media Use on Knowledge and Misperception,” Mass Communication and Society, 26, 4 (July-August 2023):  593-618.
• Liane Rothenberger, Martin Loeffelholz, and David H. Weaver, eds., The Palgrave Handbook of Cross-Border Journalism (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), pp. 1-636.
• Lars Willnat, David H. Weaver, Maria-Elena Hernandez-Ramirez, and Laura E. Canuelas, “Cross-Border Journalism in North America,” in Liane Rothenberger, Martin Loeffelholz, and David H. Weaver, eds., The Palgrave Handbook of Cross-Border Journalism (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), pp. 381-399.
• Lars Willnat, David H. Weaver, and Cleve Wilhoit, “The American Journalist Under Attack:  An Institution at Risk,” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 102, 1 (March 2025), pp. 37-61.Lars Willnat, David H. Weaver, and Cleve Wilhoit, “The American Journalist Under Attack:  An Institution at Risk,” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 102, 1 (March 2025): pp. 37-61. https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990241292080