Molly Yanity

  • Director, Professor
  • Communication Studies, Sports Media and Communication
  • Email: molly.yanity@uri.edu
  • Office Location: Davis Hall

Biography

Molly Yanity is a professor and the director of the Sports Media and Communication program. She earned a Ph.D. from Ohio University in 2013 after a 15-year career as a sports writer in Seattle and Southern California. Prior to coming to Rhode Island, Yanity taught journalism and sports journalism at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. Her research typically deals with media coverage and fandom of women’s sports, as well as the roles and routines of sports journalists. Yanity lives in West Haven, Connecticut, with her wife, journalist Lindsay Boyle, and their rescue dog Rigatoni.

Research

Media coverage and fandom of women’s sport, sports journalism practices, women’s basketball, women’s soccer

Education

Ph.D., Mass Communication, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 2013
M.S., Journalism, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 2011
B.A., Journalism, Point Loma Nazarene College, San Diego, 1996

Selected Publications

Saks, J. & Yanity, M. (2024). SportsCenter’s “Top 10 Plays” Still Dunks on the National Hockey League. Journal of Sports Media. Forthcoming.

Yanity, M. & Sarver Coombs, D. (2021). Megan Rapinoe’s Power Pose: Informing and Influencing Fan Performances. In Yanity, M. & Sarver Coombs, D. (Eds.) 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75401-3_10.

Saks, J., Cruikshank, S.A. & Yanity, M. (2018). U.S. College Student Media and Twitter: Are Student Media Following Best Practices? Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 74(3), 290-305. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077695818797202.

Saks, J. & Yanity, M. (2016). The Not-So-Neutral Zone: ESPN, Agenda-Setting, and the National Hockey League. Journal of Sports Media, 11(1), 81-100. https://doi.org/10.1353/jsm.2016.0007.

Yanity, M. (2013). Publishing for paydirt: A case study of an athletic department writer. International Journal of Sports Communication, 6(4), 478-489. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.6.4.478.

Yanity, M. & Edmondson, A. (2011). Ethics and the online coverage of recruiting high school athletes. International Journal of Sports Communication, 4(4), 403-421. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.4.4.403.