Photo of Greenberg, Josh

Josh Greenberg

Professor; Director, School of Journalism and Communication and Program Head, Communication Studies

    Expertise:Crisis/Risk Communication, Digital Media, Health Communication, Political Communication, Privacy and Surveillance, Public Relations and Advertising
    Email:Joshua.Greenberg@carleton.ca
    Building:Richcraft Hall, Room 4302C
    Department:School of Journalism and Communication

    Biography

    Josh Greenberg, Ph.D., is Director of the School of Journalism and Communication and Professor of Communication and Media Studies. His expertise is in the broad area of health risk communication, with a focus on media coverage of outbreaks and other infectious disease risks; public risk perceptions of vaccination; and the risk communication strategies and media activities of public health officials and organizations. Dr. Greenberg recently began a new research project on Canada’s “vinyl music scenes,” which focuses on vinyl collectors, vinyl pressing companies, record stores and cultural events dedicated to promoting enthusiasm for and the exchange of vinyl music.

    Professor Greenberg sits on the editorial boards of the Canadian Journal of Communication and Journal of Professional Communication. He is an advisory board member of Evidence for Democracy, and is on the organizing committee of the Canadian Health Adaptations Innovations Mobilization Centre. He has provided research services and strategic advice to The World Health Organization; U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine; and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Professor Greenberg is a regular media commentator in his areas of expertise. In 2020 he was awarded the Faculty of Public Affairs “Public Commentary Excellence Award” in recognition of his contributions to policy development and public discourse in Canada.

    Recent Peer-Reviewed Publications

    • G. Capurro and J. Greenberg. 2020. “Stories of Risk: Media Narratives of Known, Emergent and Novel Health Threats.” Forthcoming in M. Deflem and D. Silva, eds. Media and Law: Between Free Speech and Censorship. Emerald Publishing.
    • J. Greenberg, G. Capurro, E. Dubé and M. Driedger. 2019. “Measles, Mickey and the Media: Media Coverage of the 2015 Disneyland Outbreak.” Canadian Journal of Communication, 44(2): 175-89.
    • G. Capurro, J. Greenberg, E. Dubé and M. Driedger. 2018. “Measles, Moral Regulation and the Social Construction of Risk: Media Narratives of ‘Anti-Vaxxers’ and the 2015 Disneyland Outbreak.” Canadian Journal of Sociology, 43(1): 25-47.
    • J. Greenberg, E. Dubé and M. Driedger. 2017. “Vaccine Hesitancy: In Search of the Risk Communication Comfort Zone.” PLoS Currents, March 3. DOI: 10.1371/currents.outbreaks.0561a011117a1d1f9596e8690b.
    • J. Greenberg. 2017. Book Review of Charles L. Briggs and Daniel C. Hallin, Making Health Public: How News Coverage Is Remaking Media, Medicine and Contemporary Life (London: Routledge, 2016). Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 25 May. https://doi.org/10.1111/maq.12380
    • J. Greenberg and T. Joseph Scanlon. 2016. “Old Media, New Media, and the Complex Story of Disasters.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science. DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199389407.013.21
    • J. Greenberg. 2016. “Celebrity Science: A Response to Declan Fahy and Timothy Caulfield.” Issues in Science and Technology, 33(1) [Link here].
    • C. Elliott and J. Greenberg. 2016. “Communication, Crisis, and Contaminated Meat: A Tale of Two Food Scares.” How Canadians Communicate About Food. Calgary, AB: Athabasca University Press.

    Other Publications

    • J. Greenberg and J. Rainford. 2018. “Hard Work Ahead on New emergency Alert System.” Policy Options, May 2 [Link here].
    • J. Rainford and J. Greenberg. 2018. “A Teachable Moment in the Hawaii False Alarm.” Policy Options, January 23 [Link here].
    • J. Smith and J. Greenberg. 2017. Preparing Airports for Communicable Diseases on Arriving Flights. Report for Transportation Safety Board (Airport Cooperative Research Program). National Academies of Sciences, Engineering & Medicine. [Link here].
    • J. Greenberg and J. Rainford. 2016. Hurricane Matthew and the Problem of Communicating Fear.” Policy Options, October 12 [Link here].
    • J. Greenberg. 2016. “Zika Virus: Communicating an Evolving Health Risk.” Policy Options, February 16 [Link here].
    • J. Greenberg and J. Rainford. 2016. “Uncertainty Management: Communicating the Zika Risk.” Policy Options, January 28 [Link here].

    Graduate Student Supervision

    Professor Greenberg has supervised numerous graduate students and postdocs with wide-ranging interests: risk and crisis communication, health communication, media and social movements, surveillance, media representations of public policy, and communication and development. In 2010 he received a Carleton University Graduate Mentoring Award in recognition of excellence in graduate supervision.