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Louisa Shepard
News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu
Cinema & Media Studies
Five questions about the new White House press secretary
Five questions about the new White House press secretary
In a Q&A, Barbie Zelizer of the Annenberg School for Communication discusses Jennifer Psaki’s first weeks on the job, plus what a shift back to a traditional press briefing means for journalism during the Biden presidency.
Student filmmaker puts pencil to paper for heartwarming sci-fi fantasies
Student filmmaker puts pencil to paper for heartwarming sci-fi fantasies
Senior Dennis Sungmin Kim finds success with his hand-drawn, animated short films.
Delivering the news with humor makes young adults more likely to remember and share
Delivering the news with humor makes young adults more likely to remember and share
An Annenberg study finds when compared to nonhumorous news clips, viewers are not only more likely to share humorously-presented news, but they are also more likely to remember the content from these segments.
Rahul Mukherjee’s life in the screen
Rahul Mukherjee’s life in the screen
In two classes, the Dick Wolf Associate Professor of Television and New Media Studies looks at the big picture of our digital life.
Google News prioritizes national media over local
Google News prioritizes national media over local
A new study from the Annenberg School for Communication found that Google News prioritizes national media outlets over local media outlets in search results, even when users are searching for local topics.
Media’s reporting on gun violence does not reflect reality
Media’s reporting on gun violence does not reflect reality
A new study looks at media reports in three cities and finds half of victims were covered in the news, but a disproportionate amount of attention was given to less common circumstances and victims.
TV ads for psoriasis and eczema medications portray few people of color
TV ads for psoriasis and eczema medications portray few people of color
A Penn Medicine study finds commercials from pharmaceutical companies advertising medication to treat psoriasis and eczema lack people from racial and ethnic minorities.
In TV and cinema, pandemic lays out a field of unknowns
In TV and cinema, pandemic lays out a field of unknowns
Penn experts in Cinema & Media Studies and the Wharton School weigh in on how television and film are adapting alongside the pandemic.
Cancel culture on the silver screen
Cancel culture on the silver screen
Iconic films like the 1939 blockbuster “Gone With the Wind” are being scrutinized in light of the Black Lives Matter movement against racial injustice. Cinema studies’ Meta Mazaj says framing films within context is more valuable than erasure and disclaimers.
Reality replaces virtual reality
Reality replaces virtual reality
What was supposed to be a cinema and media studies course to create virtual reality films on the Philadelphia Museum of Art collections became individual films by the students about the realities and connections to the pieces they researched.
Media Contact
In the News
Slate.com
Limbaugh’s lamentable legacy
Brian Rosenwald of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke about the late Rush Limbaugh’s role in shaping talk radio, conservative media, and the Republican Party. “He was this brilliant, gifted entertainer. But it was kind of like the dark arts,” said Rosenwald. “He used his power to do a lot of terrible things.”
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The Washington Post
Rush Limbaugh is ailing. And so is the conservative talk radio industry
Brian Rosenwald of the School of Arts & Sciences said radio station owners are unlikely to invest in local personalities due to financial constraints, putting AM radio “in imminent danger, unless someone comes along to invest enough to enable it to become a local medium again.”
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The Washington Post
Conservative media decry Capitol riot, but grievances remain
Brian Rosenwald of the School of Arts & Sciences said conservative media figures may hesitate to issue retractions or contradict President Trump. “Introspection and regret would require peeling back the curtain and admitting that in the interest of putting on the best show possible, they often use hyperbolic or ... extreme presentations because they are more gripping or entertaining than nuance,” Rosenwald said.
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The Washington Post
Does Electoral College end election for conservative media?
Brian Rosenwald of the School of Arts & Sciences said conservative media are shaped by their audience’s preferences. “As conservative media proliferated, it put a lot more pressure on the hosts to move to the right and embrace warfare politics,” he said. “If they don’t, they get accused of selling out. This is a business.”
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Los Angeles Times
Want to change Hollywood culture? Stop using classic movie formulas
PIK Professor John Jackson Jr. authored an op-ed about how clichés in filmmaking oversimplify complex issues like racism. “A truly diverse and inclusive Hollywood will need the courage to forsake many of the classic formulas that it believes audiences require for the grandest stories it tries to tell,” he wrote.
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The Washington Post
Conservative media helps Trump perform ‘law and order’ in Portland, with risks for November
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center spoke about media coverage of the federal crackdown in Portland, Oregon. “The framing of this is dramatically different news channel to news channel, and this is an instance in which the visuals are difficult to understand because you’re seeing people in what look to be a kind of military uniform, and it’s unfolding at night,” she said.
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