Kirstie Hettinga, Ph.D., is an associate professor of communication at California Lutheran University. She teaches media writing, editing, and content creation and serves as the faculty adviser to Cal Lutheran’s award-winning student newspaper, The Echo. Her research addresses issues of accuracy and credibility in news media. Her work has been published in Newspaper Research Journal, College Media Review, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, and Media Ethics. She earned her BA in print journalism and MA in mass communication from Fresno State and her doctorate in mass communication from The Pennsylvania State University.