Bio

Celeste Wagner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism at the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. She received a Licenciatura (BA) in Communication from Universidad de San Andrés in Argentina, her home country, and an MA in Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

From a mixed methods and comparative approach, Wagner studies media reception and influence around political and social issues, particularly those related to intersecting gender inequalities in the Americas. To understand these processes, she primarily draws from surveys, experiments, and qualitative interviewing methods. Fieldwork for her research has been conducted in Argentina and the United States.

Some of her recent publications have explored the emotional experiences, interpretations, and practices of consuming news and perceived misinformation during times of political polarization in the U.S. (Journalism, Digital Journalism); the role of the perceived gender of journalists on the promotion of ideas around the severity of sexual harassment (Cuadernos.info); and the experiences of watching television entertainment in Argentina and the United States (International Journal of Communication).

Currently, Wagner is working on a book manuscript titled The Patina of Distrust: Misinformation in a Context of Generalized Skepticism, under contract with The MIT Press, with E. Mitchelstein, P. J. Boczkowski, and F. Suenzo. The book is based on interviews, surveys and experiments conducted during the Argentine 2019 elections. Other ongoing projects study the role of survivor/victim’s ethno-racial and class backgrounds on news audiences responses in Argentina and the U.S.; anti-gender-based violence advocates’ interpretations of news media representations of sexist violence in Argentina and the U.S.; the role of audiences’ partisanship and gender in their assessment of sexual harassment scandals involving politicians in the U.S. (with Jin Woo Kim), among others.

In both Argentina and the United States, Wagner has taught introduction to communication, history of the media, social scientific methods, and media and popular culture. In 2015, Wagner received a Teaching Award at Universidad de San Andrés, given to the best Teaching Assistant at the university.

Among other appointments, Wagner is a member of the organizing committee of the “Media & Communication in Global Latinidades” Pre-Conference at ICA; a research affiliate at the Center for Media and Society in Argentina, and a Working Group coordinator at the Latin American Interdisciplinary Gender Network.

Education

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School for Communication
Master’s in Communication, University of Pennsylvania Annenberg School of Communication
Bachelor’s in Communication, Universidad de San Andrés in Argentina.

News

• Maria Celeste Wagner Joins UFCJC as a Journalism Assistant Professor in Fall 2022 (May 13, 2022)
• All News About Maria Celeste Wagner

Courses

Syllabi from the current and three previous semesters:

• MMC  2604 - Media, Cultures, and Identity - Fall 2022 (PDF)