Derek Moscato, PhD

Professor

About

Moscato is a professor in the Department of Journalism, where he teaches public relations, environmental journalism, and news media classes. Additionally, Moscato teaches in the Canadian-American (C/AM) Studies program and the Western Honors Program. He has been a research fellow with Western's Border Policy Research Institute (BPRI), the Salish Sea Institute, and the Center for Canadian-American Studies. Previous to WWU Journalism, Moscato taught strategic communication and news media courses at the University of Oregon and Douglas College. 

A previous Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication Scholar, Derek’s research is driven by global communication flows, political economy of media, and environmental persuasion. His recent research has explored environmental persuasion in global, cross-border, and bioregional contexts; public diplomacy issues including the soft power of sport and culture; and news media ethics issues including media censorship. Additionally, Moscato has explored journalism and public communication topics in the Arctic region. 

His 2022 book, Dirt Persuasion: Civic Environmental Persuasion and the Heartland's Pipeline Fight, was recipient of the 2023 Choice Outstanding Academic Title and the 2023 Nebraska Best Book Award. More recently, he published Environmental Strategic Communication: Advocacy, Persuasion, and Public Relations (Rowman & Littlefield) to help practitioners and students navigate the communication terrain of ecological policy and protection. A co-edited publication, Environmental Communication and the Wild: Image, Industry, and Technology, was published in 2025.

Moscato is currently a member with several scholarly associations, including the Association for Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication; the Public Relations Society of America; and the Association for Borderland Studies; and the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States. Previous to academia, Moscato held professional communication and marketing leadership roles at Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, and the Lung Association. He was also a weekly opinion-page columnist, writing for both the Vancouver Metro and The Vancouver Province. Previous to his public relations work, he was a business journalist with several international publications, focused on resource issues, urban economics, technology, and global capital markets. 

Research Interests

  • Environmental media
  • Public diplomacy
  • Persuasion and rhetoric
  • Media history
  • Political economy of media
  • Media ecology
  • Sport communication
  • Borderlands topics

Current Courses

J355: Canadian-American Media Systems

H351: Arctic Media: News, Culture, and Diplomacy

J480: Senior Media Research Seminar

EJ312: Environmental Journalism

J380: Advanced Public Relations Writing

H350: Global Sport Media and Diplomacy

J207: Newswriting

J330: Public Relations Principles

H352: Hockey's Political Economy and Public Diplomacy

J407: Public Relations Cases

S490: Salish Sea Community Seminar

Selected Publications

Moscato, D. and Valencia, R. (2025). Global Narratives of Ecological Modernization: The Construction of Climate Change Op-eds in China Daily and the New York Times. Journal of Communication Inquiry. 

Duncan, P. and Moscato, D. (2025). Environmental Communication and the Wild: Image, Industry, and Technology. Bloomsbury. 

Moscato, D. (2024). All the City's a Stage: Greenpeace, #VWDarkside, and the popular appeals of urban climate activism. Public Relations Inquiry. 

Moscato, D. (2024). Strategic Environmental Communication: Advocacy, Persuasion, and Public Relations. Rowman & Littlefield.

Moscato, D. (2023). Pandemic media narratives of an American-Canadian exclave. American Review of Canadian Studies. 

Moscato, D. (2023). Constructing the pipeline fight narrative: Micromobilizations, participation, and environmental advoacy. In Narratives in Public Communication, 198-212. 

Moscato, D. (2022). Dirt Persuasion: Civic Environmental Populism and the Heartland's Pipeline Fight. U of Nebraska Press.

Moscato, D. (2022). “The ritual of the Bering Sea: Commodity, country, and mortality in the Deadliest Catch.” In Persevering During the Pandemic: Communication, Creativity, and Connection.

Moscato, D. (2021). Ichiro the Public Diplomat: Professional Sport as Cultural Intermediary in Configuring US-Japan Relations. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, 16(1), 82-104.

Bowe, B. J., Moscato, D., & Alkazemi, M. F. (2021). An appeal to shared values: framing and moral persuasion in the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ press releases. Journal of Public Relations Research, 33(1), 39-57.

Valencia, R. J., & Moscato, D. (2021). Navigating# ObamainCuba: how Twitter mediates frames and history in public diplomacy. Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, 17(2), 168-179.

Moscato, D. (2020). Aerial Activism in Old-Growth Rainforest: The Ancient Forest Alliance’s Drone Videography as Spatial Communication. The local and the digital in environmental communication, 33-48.

Moscato, D. (2020). The Amplification of Polar Diplomacy: A Textual Analysis of Arctic Council Declarations. Arctic Yearbook.