This page is a repository of my academic work and public scholarship. Links for each published article are provided if they are available. If you do not have access, feel free to contact me and I’ll be happy to provide a copy.

I specialize in qualitative methods. My research agenda is centered on media representations, media sociology and sport communication.

Click here to view my full CV

Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications

Chen, Q., & Figueroa, E. J. (2026). “At least it will be 24 hours without fake news”: A thematic analysis of online comments on newsroom strikes. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/15456870.2026.2742991

Figueroa, E.J., & Ferrucci, P. (2026). Peripheral Mending at the Edges of Sports Journalism: Metajournalistic Discourse of the Terry Rozier Sports Gambling Arrest. Communication & Sport, 0,(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795261474796

Peña, V., Crowe, P., & Figueroa, E. J. (2026). (Dana) White Privilege: Sports media coverage of UFC domestic violence. Sociology of Sport Journal, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2025-0154

Chen, Q., & Figueroa, E.J. (2025). Will They Defend Their Own? A Critical Discourse Analysis and Comparison of Corporate News Media and NewsGuild Coverage of Journalists’ Labor Strikes. Journalism Studies, 0(0).

Canella, G., & Figueroa, E.J. (2025). Cinematic Matches and the Evolving Spaces of Sports Entertainment. Popular Culture Studies Journal, 13(2), 90-103.

Ferrucci, P. & Figueroa, E.J. (2025). “‘At this point, I have no idea’: Determining a sports journalist in the 2020s. Journalism, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14648849251335294

Figueroa, E. J., Canella, G., & Baines, A. (2025). Organizing solidarity: Newsroom unions, gendered Labor and professional Identity. Journalism Practice, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/17512786.2025.2460559

Figueroa, E.J. & Ferrucci, P. (2024). “It’s a problem for all of us”: Discursively explaining the destruction of sports journalism. Journal of Sports Media, 19(2), 85-109.

Figueroa, E.J., (2024) Esports events & hegemonic masculinity: Reflections on participant-observation at Evolution Championship Series 2019. Emotion, Space & Society, 53.

Figueroa, E. J., & Baines, A. (2024). Feminist empowerment through labor organizing: In-depth interviews with female labor union organizers at American newspapers. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990241276173

Figueroa, E. J., Peña, V., & Vasudevan, K. (2024). “The Planet’s Champion” Daniel Bryan: How WWE Uses Sport, Neoliberalism and Colorblind Ideology in Professional Wrestling Narratives. Communication & Sport, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795241268130

Figueroa, E. J. (2024). “If I tweeted like that, it’s entirely possible I’d get fired”: Sports journalists’ discourse of Jemele Hill versus Donald Trump. Feminist Media Studies, 24(4), 818-834.

Peña, V., Grubic, A., Figueroa, E. J., & Bock, M. A. (2023). The blame game: How video evidence changes narratives of misogynistic violence in sports discourse. Feminist Media Studies, 23(8), 3942-3958.

Figueroa, E. J. (2022). Casting heroes and victims of disaster events: Representations of race and gender in Hurricane Harvey front page news images. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 39(5), 455-471.

Ittefaq, M., Abwao, M., Baines, A., Belmas, G., Kamboh, S. A., & Figueroa, E. J. (2022). A pandemic of hate: Social representations of COVID-19 in the media. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 22(1), 225-252.

Graber, S. M., Figueroa, E. J., & Vasudevan, K. (2020). Oh, say, can you kneel: A critical discourse analysis of newspaper coverage of Colin Kaepernick’s racial protest. Howard Journal of Communications, 31(5), 464-480.

Figueroa, E. J. (2020). News organizations, ideology, and work routines: A multi-level analysis of environmental journalists. Journalism, 21(10), 1486-1501.

Bock, M. A., Cueva Chacón, L. M., Jung, H., Sturm, H. A., & Figueroa, E. J. (2018). The faces of local TV news in America: youth, whiteness, and gender disparities in station publicity photos. Feminist Media Studies, 18(3), 440-457.

Bock, M. A., & Figueroa, E. J. (2018). Faith and reason: An analysis of the homologies of Black and Blue Lives Facebook pages. New Media & Society, 20(9), 3097-3118.

Conference Papers

Chen, Q. & Figueroa, E. J. (August, 2026) At least it will be 24 hours without fake news”: A thematic analysis of online comments on newsroom strikes. selected for presentation at the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, August 5-8, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Figueroa, E. J. & Ferrucci, P. (August, 2026). “Peripheral Mending at the Edges of Sports Journalism: Metajournalistic Discourse of the Terry Rozier Sports Gambling Scandal.” selected for presentation at the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, August 5-8, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Figueroa, E.J., Peña, V, & Carter, A. (March, 2025) Sports, Racial Neoliberalism and the Monetary Value of Whiteness: Sports Journalists’ Discourse of Caitlin Clark’s First WNBA Season. selected for presentation at the International Association for Communication and Sport Summit., March 13-14, Dublin, Ireland.

Chen, Q. & Figueroa, E. J. (August, 2025) Will They Defend Their Own? A Critical Discourse Analysis and Comparison of Corporate Newspapers and NewsGuild Coverage of Journalist’s Labor Strikes. selected for presentation at the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, August 7-10, San Francisco, California.

Figueroa, E. J. & Ferrucci, P. (August, 2025) ‘You’re Only Hurting the Journalists’: A Critical Discourse Analysis of ‘Don’t Unsubscribe’ to the Washington Post and the L.A. Times. selected for presentation at the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, August 7-10, San Francisco, California.

Figueroa, E. J., Peña, V, & Alaqabawy, N. (March, 2025) Sports, Racial Neoliberalism and the Monetary Value of Whiteness: Sports Journalists’ Discourse of Caitlin Clark’s First WNBA Season. selected for presentation at the International Association for Communication and Sport Summit., March 13-15, Chicago, Illinois.

Ferrucci, P. & Figueroa, E. J. (August, 2024) ‘At this point, I have no idea’: Determining a sports journalist in the 2020s. selected for presentation at the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, August 8-11, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Figueroa, E. J. & Ferrucci, P. (August, 2024) ‘It’s a problem for all of us’: Discursively explaining the destruction of sports journalism. selected for presentation at the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, August 8-11, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Figueroa, E. J., & Ferrucci, P. (March, 2024) Postcolonial Tensions and The World Baseball Classic: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Baseball Sports Journalists Discussions of Player Injuries. selected for presentation at the International Association for Communication and Sport Summit., March 14-16, Burbank, California.

Peña, V., & Figueroa, E. J. (March, 2024) (Dana) White Privilege: Sports media coverage of UFC domestic violence. selected for presentation at the International Association for Communication and Sport Summit., March 14-16, Burbank, California.

Figueroa, E. J., & Etheridge, C., Silva, F. (November, 2023). In bounds and out of bounds: Social justice content in sports media and shifting concepts of unity. selected for presentation at the National Communication Association Conference., November 16-19, National Harbor, Maryland.

Figueroa, E. J., & Peña, V. (August, 2023). Repairing the Journalism Paradigm with Artificial Intelligence: How ChatGPT Editorials Preserve Objectivity, Whiteness & Colorblind Ideology. selected for presentation at the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference., August 7-10, Washington, D.C.

Figueroa, E. J., & Baines, A., (August, 2023). Activating Solidarity Journalism: Analyzing the Impact of Newsroom Union Organizing on Journalism Practices. selected for presentation at the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference., August 7-10, Washington, D.C.

Figueroa, E. J., & Peña, V., (May, 2022). Should They Ball or Boycott? A Critical Discourse Analysis of Sports Media Coverage of the NBA Player Strike. selected for presentation at the International Communication Association Conference., May 26-30, Paris, France.

Figueroa, E. J., & Bianes, A., (May, 2022). I want the future young journalists and people of color to feel empowered and safe when I leave”: Feminist Empowerment in Newsroom Union Organizing. selected for presentation at the International Communication Association Conference., May 26-30, Paris, France.

Figueroa, E. J., (November, 2021). Structural Hierarchy at Evolution Championship Series 2019: An Ethnographic Participant-Observation of a Fighting Game Esports Event. selected for presentation at the National Communication Association Conference., November 18-21, Seattle, Washington.

Figueroa, E. J., (November, 2021). Digital Identity and Embodiment in Esports: Analyzing the Gendered Dimensions of Real and Virtual Bodies in Evolution Championship Series 2019 Media Content. selected for presentation at the National Communication Association Conference., November 18-21, Seattle, Washington.

Figueroa, E. J., Vasudevan, K., & Peña, V. (May, 2020). The Planet’s Champion: An Analysis of Anti-Capitalist Villainization in WWE. selected for presentation at the International Communication Association Conference., May 21-25, Virtual Conference.

Peña, V., Grubic, A., & Figueroa, E. J. (May, 2020). The Blame Game: A Discourse Analysis Surrounding Domestic Violence Images. in Sport selected for presentation at the International Communication Association Conference., May 21-25, Virtual Conference.

Figueroa, E. J. (August, 2019). The Visual Rhetoric of Disaster: How Bodies are Represented in Newspaper Photographs of Hurricane Harvey. selected for presentation at the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference., August 7-10, Toronto, Canada. **Awarded third place in the student paper competition for the Cultural & Critical Studies Division.

Graber, S, Cueva Chacón, L. & Figueroa E. J. (May, 2019). Chain Migration or Family Reunification? A Critical Discourse Analysis of American Newspapers’ Coverage of Immigration. selected for presentation at the International Communication Association Conference., May 24-28, Washington D.C.

Figueroa, E. J., & Graber, S (May, 2019). Jemele Hill, Race, and Gender: A Textual Analysis of Sports Media Discourse. selected for presentation at the International Communication Association Conference., May 24-28, Washington D.C.

Figueroa, E. J. (November, 2018). Gendered Tensions in the Comment Section: What the End of Gamers Articles Teach us about Gamer Identity. selected for presentation at the National Communication Association Conference., November 8-12, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Figueroa, E. J. (November, 2018). A Culture War in Twitter’s Trenches: #Feminism vs. #Gamergate. selected for presentation at the National Communication Association Conference., November 8-12, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Bock, M. A., & Figueroa, E. J. (August, 2017). Faith and reason: An analysis of the homologies of Black and Blue Lives Facebook pages. selected for presentation at the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference., August 9-12, Chicago, Illinois.

Graber, S, Figueroa E. J., & Vasudevan, K. (May, 2017) “‘A Prophylactic of Patriotism’”: Newspaper coverage of Colin Kaepernick’s Star-Spangled Anthem Racial Protest”. selected for presentation at the International Communication Association Conference: Interventions: Communication Research and Practice., May 25-29, San Diego, California.

Invited Reviews, Chapters & Articles

Figueroa, E.J. (2025). White Property, Black Trespass: Racial Capitalism and the Religious Function of Mass Criminalization by Andrew Krinks, New York, New York University Press, 2024, ix +328pp., $35.00 (paperback), ISBN 978-1479823840

Figueroa, E. J. (2024). Coco Gauff and Lebron James Cross the Delaware. Olympic and Paralympic Analysis 2024: Mega events, media, and the politics of sport.

Figueroa, E. J. (2024). The unintended: photography, property, and the aesthetics of racial capitalism: by Monica Huerta, New York, New York University Press, 2023, 2006, xvii+ 309pp., $30.00 (paperback), ISBN 978-1479812400.

Quoted In