Halley Spencer

As a sociologist, I focus on public scholarship, community-based research, and social inequalities. I am a graduate research assistant for Citizen Science GIS, a graduate teaching assistant for the University of Central Florida Department of Sociology, a Podcast host for Free the Mind, Free the People, and an improv comedy teacher for UCF's The Improv Academy.

• B.S. Sociology with a minor in Political Science - University of Central Florida - 3.8 GPA
• M.A. Applied Sociology - University of Central Florida - In Progress

After receiving my Part 107 Remote Pilots License, I aided in drone imagery of government facilities in Orange County, FL.

Social Media vs Corporate TV Networks: Contrasting Effects on the Public's Attitudes Towards Police Reform

Abstract:

Is police brutality a systemic problem in America or just the actions of a few “bad apples?” How one answers this question is largely dependent on the sources they use to gain information. Existing research in this domain is typically limited in scope, contrasting the effects of different media channels within singular platforms, such as CNN versus Fox. However, this study contrasts the effects of entire media platforms: social media versus corporate TV news networks. This study is important as it provides frameworks to understand the impacts that information sources have on our beliefs towards contentious social issues. It is hard to create solutions to a problem if the population is still split on what the problem even is in the first place. Proposed solutions for police brutality, if it is viewed as the actions of “a few bad apples,” differs largely from if someone views it as a racist, systemic issue. By imagining this on the political spectrum, I hypothesize that social media correlates to higher opinion polarization. Those who use social media on the left will seek a systematic change to policing or abolition of police institutions. Those who use social media on the right will seek further militarization of the police and civilian militias. Conversely, network TV viewers will land in the middle of the political spectrum, having moderate opinions that believe that unjust police interactions are due to a “few bad apples.” After surveying a sample of the population, preliminary data found that as one watches TV news networks more, their belief that unjust policing interactions are due to a few “bad apples” increases. Additionally, as one watches TV news networks more, their belief in the need for institutional changes to policing & the abolition of the police decreases. I used two main theoretical frameworks: Critical Race Theory and the propaganda model of communication. The paper includes further discussion into why there is a difference between social media and corporate TV networks and how they create different outcomes. Furthermore, discussions on police brutality without the discussion of race would be completely remiss. Using the main tenets of Critical Race Theory and by centering black victims of police brutality, I am focusing on how the corporate media constructs racialized images of victims to gain sympathy for the institution of policing. I will then analyze why the (overwhelmingly white) corporate media works to uphold the institution and what they have to gain from it. Lasty, I will pose the question of how the media can be changed so it doesn’t uphold oppressive systems.