Facebook pixel Theresa M. de los Santos | Pepperdine University | Seaver College Skip to main content
Pepperdine | Seaver College
Theresa M. de los Santos Faculty Profile

Theresa M. de los Santos

Professor of Communication
Communication Division, Seaver College
CCB 255
310.506.4342

Biography

Theresa de los Santos ('01, MA '08) is a professor of communication in the Communication Division at Pepperdine. She obtained a bachelor of arts degree in broadcast journalism and a master of arts degree in media communication from Pepperdine. She earned her PhD in media communication from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is an Emmy award-winning television news producer, formerly working at FOX 6 in San Diego and on the FOX 11 Morning News and Good Day L.A. at KTTV in Los Angeles. As a news producer, de los Santos covered Hurricane Katrina, the Corral wildfire in Malibu, and the immigrations protests of 2006. Covering these events made her step back and question the impact of the language used in news messages on audiences. As a result, her research focuses on news literacy education and the effect of discrete emotions, like anger and hope, in news coverage on attitude, opinion, and behavior change. At Pepperdine, de los Santos teaches in the areas of journalism, media, and research methods and leads the broadcast news co-curricular program.

Education

  • PhD in Media Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2014
    • Dissertation: "Emotionally Charged: Exploring the Role of Emotion in Online News Information Seeking, Processing, and Sharing"
  • MA in Media Communication, Pepperdine University, 2008
  • BA in Telecommunications (Broadcast Journalism), Pepperdine University, 2001

 

Published Manuscripts

  • de los Santos, T., Smith, E., & Johnson, J. (2025). ‘Straight to the source’: How teens’ experiences shape their understanding of and expectations for news. Electronic News, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/19312431251319550
  • de los Santos, T., & Smith, E. (2024). Almost two decades in: Young people and news literacy education research. Communication Research Trends, 43(3).

  • Joseph, N. T., de los Santos, T., & Amaro, L. (2022). Naturalistic social cognitive and emotional reactions to technology-mediated social exposures and cortisol in daily life. Biological Psychology, 173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108402

  • Smith, E., & de los Santos, T. (2022). Seeing and doing: Exploring the use of journalist videos and simulations to increase news literacy awareness among high school students. Journal Media Practice and Education, DOI: 10.1080/25741136.2022.2086960 
  • de los Santos, T., Amaro, L., & Joseph, N. T. (2019). Emotion, social support, and social comparison across social networking sites for mothers. Communication Reports, 32(2), 82-97,  DOI: 10.1080/08934215.2019.1610470.
  •  Amaro, L., Joseph, N. T., & de los Santos, T. (2019). Relationships of online social comparison and parenting satisfaction among new mothers: The mediating roles of belonging and emotion. Journal of Family Communication, 19(2), 144-156, DOI: 10.1080/15267431.2019.1586711.
  • de los Santos, T., & Nabi, R. L. (2019). Emotionally charged: Exploring the role of emotion in online news information seeking and processing. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 63(1), 39-58, DOI: 10.1080/08838151.2019.1566861.
  • Littlefield, C., de los Santos, T., Rear, P. G., & Janssen, S. (2018). Patriotism and a free press: A content analysis of civil religion in Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing and The Newsroom. Journal of Media and Religion, 17(2), 41-60, DOI: 10.1080/15348423.2018.1531624.
  • de los Santos, T., Smith, E., & Cohen, M. (2018). Targeting truth: How museums can collaboratively address social issues. Journal of Museum Education, 43(2), 104-113.

Digital Library Products

  • de los Santos, T. (Spring, 2018). Purpose of experimental research. [Streaming video]. SAGE Research Methods Video: Practical Research and Academic Skills.
  • de los Santos, T. (Spring, 2018). Introduction to sampling. [Streaming video]. SAGE Research Methods Video: Practical Research and Academic Skills.

Book Chapter

  • Nabi R. L., So, J., & de los Santos, T. (2011). Tracing the course of research on reality TV. In E. Scharrer (Ed.), Media effects/media psychology. Wiley-Blackwell.

Manuscripts in Preparation

  • Joseph, N. T., de los Santos, T., & Amaro, L. (May, 2022). Naturalistic social cognitive and emotional reactions to technology-mediated social exposures and cortisol in daily life. Paper accepted for publication in Biological Psychology.
  • de los Santos, T., Smith E. (in progress). Expectation versus reality: News literacy and high school students.
  • de los Santos, T. & Nabi, R. L. (in progress). Extending the Emotions-as-Frames Model: How context influences affective response to mixed emotion news stories.
  • de los Santos, T. & Nabi, R. L. (in progress). To share or not to share? How emotion guides social media sharing of online news content.
  • Blanche E. Seaver Professor of Communication, 2021-2026
  • Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence, Pepperdine University, 2017
  • de los Santos, T. (2023, August). Engaged communities, engaged students: Small steps for teaching community engagement in the context of local election coverage. Teaching Ideas Competition Panel: Celebrating Winning Ideas in Cross-disciplinary Teaching at the Annual Meeting of The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in Washington, D.C.
  • de los Santos, T. & Smith, E. (2022, October). The role of journalists in news literacy education. Session led at the 2022 Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Association MediaFest Conference in Washington, D.C.
  • Smith, E. & de los Santos, T. (2022, October). Solutions journalism across platforms and in your newsroom. Session led at the 2022 Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Association MediaFest Conference in Washington, D.C.
  • de los Santos, T., Wilt, A., Esquibias, L., Penagos, M. (2022, October). How to cover your local community through video. Session led at the 2022 Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Association MediaFest Conference in Washington, D.C.
  • Joseph, N. T., de los Santos, T. M. & Amaro, L. (2022, March). Naturalistic social cognitive and emotional reactions to technology-mediated social exposures and cortisol in daily life. Paper presented at the 2022 meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society.
  • de los Santos, T., Smith E., & Johnson, J. (2021, August). Expectation versus reality: News literacy and high school students. Paper presented at the annual meeting of The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Scholastic Journalism Division/Interest Group, Virtual Conference.
  • Smith, E., & de los Santos, T. (2020, August). Seeing and doing: The use of simulations and training videos to increase news literacy awareness. Paper presented at the annual meeting of The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Scholastic Journalism Division/Interest Group, Virtual Conference.
  • Joseph, N. T., Amaro, L., & de los Santos, T. (2019, April). Looking up and lying down: Upward social comparison, emotion, and sleep in social networking mothers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Pasadena, CA.
  • Amaro, L., Joseph, N. T., & de los Santos, T. (2019, February). Relationships of online social comparison, belonging, and emotion to parenting satisfaction among new mothers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Western States Communication Association, Seattle, WA.
  • de los Santos, T., Amaro, L., & Joseph N. (2017, May). Emotion, social support, and social comparison in online mommy platforms: A content analysis. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association – Information Systems Division, San Diego, CA.
  • de los Santos, T. (2017, May). Fake news, real emotion: Connecting emotion to news consumption. Panelist and Training Session Leader at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum "Truth and the News" Media Literacy Forum, Simi Valley, CA.
  • de los Santos, T. & Fisher, A. (2016, November). Teaching and doing solutions journalism. Session led at the annual Associated Collegiate Press conference, Washington, D.C.
  • de los Santos, T., & Nabi, R. L. (2015, June). To share or not to share? How emotional frames influence the sharing of online news stories. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association – Mass Communication Division, Fukuoka, Japan.
  • Student Media Challenge, Solutions Journalism Network, July 2023. $10,000 grant for the 2023-2024 year for Pepperdine journalism students to receive training and produce in-depth solutions-oriented coverage of the youth mental health crisis with a focus on climate anxiety specific to our location. See: https://seaver.pepperdine.edu/newsroom/articles/7-27-23-journalism-grant.htm  
  • Cross-Disciplinary/Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research Program, Pepperdine University, Summer 2018, Summer 2017, Summer 2016
  • Academic Year Undergraduate Research Initiative, Pepperdine University, Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2012

Areas of Expertise

  • Journalism
  • Emotion and Media
  • News Literacy
  • Media Communication
  • Research Methods

Courses

  • JOUR 445 – Journalism Presentation Principles (4 units)
  • JOUR 241 – Introduction to News Writing and Editing (4 units)
  • JOUR 251/351, MPRD 261/361 – Journalism, Media Production Practicum (1 unit)
  • COM 300 – Introduction to Communication Research Methods (3 units)