Vincent C. Peña is an assistant professor in sports communication and journalism. He received his Ph.D. in journalism and media from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.A. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has worked as a writer and editor at various publications, such as SB Nation, Salon.com, Yahoo Sports, and The Salt Lake Tribune. At DePaul, he also serves as the co-advisor of the award-winning student chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ). He is also an affiliate faculty member of the Latin American and Latino Studies Department.
His research focuses on the intersection of sports, media, culture, and identity, and he largely studies representation and discourse in sports media. Areas of interest include journalism ideology and practice, stereotypes in the media, and coverage of athlete activism. His work has been published in journals such as Journalism Studies, Communication & Sport, Newspaper Research Journal, Journal of Sports Media, Sociology of Sport Journal, and many others.
He is active in many professional/academic organizations, including the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), the International Communication Association (ICA), and the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS).
Selected publications:
Figueroa, E.,
Peña, V., & Vasudevan, K. (2024). “The Planet's Champion" Daniel Bryan: How WWE uses Sport, Neoliberalism and Colorblind Ideology in Professional Wrestling Narratives.
Communication & Sport.
https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795241268130Crowe, P. &
Peña, V. (2024). Playing (& smoking) by the rules: Sports media's racialized coverage of athlete drug use.
Communication & Sport.
https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795241249142 Peña, V. (2024). All the right questions: Exploring racial stereotypes in sports press conferences.
Sociology of Sport Journal, 42(1), 33-41.
https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2023-0124 Peña, V. & Bock, M. (2024). Questioning sports journalists: Stereotypes, work routines, and color-blind racism in sports press conferences.
Communication & Sport, 13(2), 285-302.
https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795241226694Scott, A. &
Peña, V. (2023). Who is Worthy of a Name? Identity, Naming, and Social Difference in News Images' Captions.
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.
https://doi.org/10.1177/10776990231202690.