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Michael Porter

Dr. Michael Porter's research interests focus on media literacy and an examination of the narrative structure of primetime television programs. He began by applying Christian Metz's Grande Syntagmatique to selected television programs (including "Lou Grant" and "Hill Street Blues"). He has also examined issues of representation of men n in the media. focusing on use of self-disclosure of male sitcom characters. His research has been published in the Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Southern Speech Communication Journal, Journal of Sex Roles, Journal of Popular Film and Television, and more.

Dr. Porter has received numerous teaching awards including the National Communication Association’s Outstanding Teaching Award from the Mass Communication Division (1998), the William T. Kemper Award for Excellence in Teaching (1997) the Maxine Christopher Shutz Award for Distinguished Teaching (2002) and the Governor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (2011).

Frequently Taught Courses
Comm 4974 - Senior Project

Research Interests
Media literacy
Narrative structure of television programs
Representation of men in television sitcoms

Selected Recent Publications
Porter, M. J. (2003). Teaching Television Criticism. In M. Murray & Roy L. Moore (Eds.), Mass Communication Education (pp. 323-334). Ames: Iowa State University Press.

Good, G. E., Porter, M. J., & Dillon, M. G. (2002). When men divulge: Portrayals of men's self-disclosure on prime-time situation comedies. Journal of Sex Roles, 46, 419-427.

Porter, M. J., Larson, D. L., Harthcock, A., & Berg Nellis, K. (2002). Re(de)fining narrative events: Examining television narrative structure. Journal of Popular Film and Television, 30, 23-30.

Porter, M. J. (1998). The structure of television narratives. In L. R. Vande Berg, L. A. Wenner, & B. E. Gronbeck (Eds.), Television Criticism (pp. 140-157). Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.

Porter, M. J. (1994). The function of scenes in television narratives. Creative Screenwriting, 1, 74-116.

Michael Porter

Associate Professor
and
Department Chair

Director of Comm 4940 Internships

William T. Kemper Fellow for Excellence in Teaching

education: PhD, University of Iowa (1975)
email: PorterMJ@missouri.edu
office: 109 Switzler Hall
phone: 573-882-0525
focus area: Mass Media