Thomas R. Donohue

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  fox17.trb.com/features/hc-phonecurfews.artapr27,0,28182 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 4/27/2008    Last Visited: 4/28/2008  

  "All media should be managed," says Thomas R. Donohue, professor of mass communications and psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University."It's one of the things I've preached to my class, that even if you're not going to be in media studies, you may be a parent."
  
  Skilled texters can send messages while tapping on phones through purses or pant-legs."They can look right at you and be texting friends," Donohue said.He includes in his syllabus that communication devices must be turned off during class.

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  www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_st - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/21/2008    Last Visited: 1/21/2008  

  All that does is shift responsibility away from where it should be, said Thomas Donohue, professor of mass communications and psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University.
  
  "I put it all on the parents," said Donohue, who urges keeping close tabs on children's Internet activity.

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  www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscityc - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/17/2008    Last Visited: 1/17/2008  

  All that does is shift responsibility away from where it should be, said Thomas Donohue, professor of mass communications and psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University.
  
  "I put it all on the parents," said Donohue, who urges keeping close tabs on children's Internet activity.

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  seattlepi.nwsource.com/lifestyle/342984_texting11.html - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/11/2007    Last Visited: 12/11/2007  

  "The aging process now is almost a pandemic of phobias," said Tom Donohue, a professor of mass communication at Virginia Commonwealth University who has studied the social impact of media since the 1970s.

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  www.rochesterdandc.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/2/2007    Last Visited: 9/2/2007  

  Thomas Donohue, a professor of mass communications and psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, says that cell phones have a purpose other than communication.
  
  "It's a status symbol," he said."It says, 'I'm so connected, and I want you to know that.'"
  
  Donohue believes that children think these devices will earn them more acceptance among their peers.

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  www.boomerproject.com/team.html - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/22/2003    Last Visited: 7/21/2004  

  Dr. Tom Donahue, Professor, Mass Communication and Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University -- Tom received his Ph.D. in Communication, Marketing and Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.His research specialty is the social impact of advertising on each of the four generations -- Matures, Boomers, Gen Xs and Gen Ys.He has published over 75 articles, book chapters, and monographs, the latest of which is an analysis of the marketing and advertising potential of the Internet.

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  www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=6272570&nav=menu496_2_ - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 3/23/2007    Last Visited: 3/24/2007  

  "Commercials that you see put up by people that you don't know...may have content that is inaccurate, irrelevant, or misleading," said mass communications professor Thomas Donohue.

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  Close Up on C-SPAN: Program Summaries - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/1/1997    Last Visited: 1/27/2004  

  Dr. Tom Donohue, Professor of Mass Communications, Virginia

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  DailyProgress.com | It's smooth sailing for VCU... - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/30/2007    Last Visited: 1/30/2007  

  Excitement hung in the air on the day Virginia Commonwealth University professor Thomas R. Donohue was born on an Indian reservation in Mescalero, N.M.
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  One day in July 1945, a month after Donohue was born, his father was stalking elk in the mountains of Mescalero.Suddenly, the sky lit up.He heard a huge explosion, and a blast of wind followed.He was terrified and thought the world was ending.
  
  The next day, people were told that an ammunition tank had blown up.But it was really the first test of an atomic bomb, detonated 28 miles from where Donohue's father stood.
  
  Use of nuclear weapons in Japan led to the end of World War II.
  
  Donohue grew up listening to the stories his dad told about the A-bomb project until his death at age 63 of a rare form of cancer.
  
  Now the son relays his own stories and wisdom, in and out of the classroom, about the psychological effects of media consumption, advertising and marketing on children, 'tweens and teens.He knows, for example, what happens when youths disconnect from reality and disappear into the fantasy worlds of video games and virtual communities.
  
  Donohue joined VCU as director and a professor of its School of Mass Communications in 1989.
  
  But it wasn't excitement he encountered.It was a highly charged, nearly explosive environment.
  
  "When I got there, the faculty was very fractious.My charge was to substantially upgrade the quality of the faculty."
  
  Donohue bought out one faculty member and recommended rejecting the tenure of others.A tumult erupted.
  
  His five-year contract to direct the school ran from 1989 to 1994.Because of the turbulence, and after meetings with faculty and administration, "we just let the contract expire."
  
  But because he was tenured, loved Virginia and wanted to see the school succeed, he remained as a professor.
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  Donohue "has been part of this change," Turk said.
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  Now 51, Donohue said, "I've been over it for years.
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  Donohue's research over the years has yielded insights into the minds of youths who consume mass media -- for example, their ability to determine whether people and situations on TV are real or pretend.
  
  "The extent to which you don't have experience with those figures in real life is the extent you're likely to believe what you see on the screen," Donohue said.
  
  What about the social impact of television violence on youth?
  
  "If you're predisposed to antisocial behavior -- that is, you have a history of not behaving, not being able to follow rules, and of behavioral outbursts -- you will choose content that feeds that, and it reinforces that behavior and the behavior persists," he said.
  
  "If I'm not disposed, I can come to the same programs other people are affected by and I won't be.What any person takes away from TV viewing is based on what the person brings to the situation."
  
  What are other potential effects of mass media on youths, particularly those who spend endless hours watching TV, playing computer games or surfing the Internet?
  
  They can become obese, Donohue said, and lose social skills from lack of interaction with people.
  
  That can spell trouble when they eventually join the work force."There's a fairly large segment that because of their lack of skills would be inept as managers," Donohue said.

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  FresnoBee.com: Life: Market-driven joy - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/24/2006    Last Visited: 12/25/2006  

  Thomas Donohue, professor of mass communications and psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, says wanting what we can't have is instinctual.Manufacturers take advantage of this to create artificial shortages that keep prices at a premium."You decide it's going to be a quest, because you don't have things to worry about like getting food on the table tonight," he says."In most African countries, they're not obsessing about anything but food and shelter."The success of these toys is dependent not on word of mouth, but rather on a competitive media culture that anticipates the next big thing and perpetuates a self-fulfilling prophesy."There's nothing intrinsically intriguing about these things," Donohue says."You know everything about it before you go get it."Gimmicky gifts such as Pet Rocks and Cabbage Patch dolls rely on an immediate spike in sales.Stores that stay open until midnight to sell the trendy gift as early as possible provide video footage for network morning shows."If you don't get it going quickly, if you don't get a spike there, you're dead," Donohue says.Manipulating parents seems to have become easier.As children arrive at that moment when peers become more important than their parents, Mom and Dad sometimes are desperate to hang on."There's a great deal of guilt," Donohue says.

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