My research examines the news habits and non-news habits of under-30s, or millennials, specifically in relation to reading news in print and online. I became interested in the topic during my first job at a print newspaper. I wondered how story selection, reporting and newswriting could improve to get more of 20-somethings wanting to read the news. I was 23 then. As a researcher now, I experiment with storytelling devices in an attempt to improve news reading experiences among millennials.

publications

• Zerba, A. (2011) Young Adults’ Reasons Behind Avoidances of Daily Print Newspapers and Their Ideas For Change. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 88(3), 597-614.
• Zerba, A. (2008)  Putting the Story Back in Hard News Stories to Engage Young Audiences. Newspaper Research Journal 29(3), 94-102.
• Zerba, A. (2008)  Reaching Young Adults Begins with Change. In P. Poindexter, S. Meraz and A. Schmitz Weiss (Eds.), Women, Men, and News: Divided and Disconnected in the News Media Landscape (pp. 155-174). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

academic conferences

• Zerba, A. and Armstrong, C. (2011) Man, Woman, or Child: The Portrayal of Young Adults in the News Media. Presented to the Newspaper Division at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication National Convention, St. Louis, MO.
• Chan-Olmsted, S., Rim, H., and Zerba, A. (2011) Consumer Adoption of Mobile News: An Examination of Motivation Predictors
  Presented to the Newspaper Division at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication National Convention, St. Louis, MO.
• Chan-Olmsted, S., Rim, H., and Zerba, A. (2011) Mobile News Adoption among Young Adults: Examining the Roles of Perceptions, News Consumption, and Media Usage. Poster presented to the Communication Technology Division at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication National Convention, St. Louis, MO.
• Zerba, A. (2010) Why Some Young Adults Dislike Print Newspapers and Their Ideas For Change. Presented to the Newspaper Division at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication National Convention, Denver.
• Zerba, A. (2008) Are Young Adults’ Reasons for Not Reading a News Medium, Medium-Specific? Presented to the Newspaper Division at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication National Convention, Chicago. (*Top Student Paper in Newspaper Division)
• Zerba, A. (2007) Putting the Story Back in Hard News Stories to Engage Young Audiences. Presented to the Newspaper Division at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication National Convention, Washington, D.C.
• Zerba, A. (2006) Physical News: Why Some Young Adults Don’t Read Newspapers. Presented to the Newspaper Division at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication National Convention, San Francisco, Calif.
• Zerba, A.  and Cantrell, T. (2005) No Laughing Matter: Negative Attribute Agenda Setting Effects on Late-Night Television. Presented to the Entertainment Studies Interest Group at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication National Convention, San Antonio, Texas.
• Zerba, A. (2004) Growing Up with Parents who Read and Watch the News: What is the Effect on College Students? Presented to the Newspaper Division at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication National Convention, Toronto.
• Zerba, A. (2004) Redefining Multimedia to a More Packaged Journalism Online. Paper presented at International Symposium on Online Journalism, Austin, Texas.
• Zerba, A. (2003) Perceived Motives for Clicking on Multimedia Features on News Web Sites: An Exploratory Study. Paper accepted at AEJMC, Kansas City, Missouri.