Ficara, G., Smith, G., Hackett, E., Tavares, T., Hwang, J. Y., Jochims, A., Crawford, M., Kananovich, V., & Perreault, G. P. (2025). Appalachia Strong: Joy in Reporting Appalachian Recovery from Hurricane Helene. Journalism Practice, 1–22.
This study examines how journalists capture joy in their community during the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene in 2024. Building on the framework of joy as a news value (Parks, 2021) through a novel three-step interpretive methodology: a visual analysis of photos (n = 37), long-form interviews and photo elicitation with nine Appalachian journalists, participants found joy within the communities they work through direct witness and participation of the community shown during tragedy by locals affected.