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Barbie Zelizer: A career built on asking the right question
Barbie Zelizer

Barbie Zelizer, the Annenberg School for Communication’s Raymond Williams Professor of Communication, is retiring after three decades as a pioneering scholar of journalism studies at Penn.

(Image: Courtesy of Annenberg School for Communication)

Barbie Zelizer: A career built on asking the right question

As the Raymond Williams Professor of Communication retires after three decades, the Annenberg School for Communication and the field itself bear the unmistakable imprint of her work.

From Annenberg School for Communication

2 min. read

Documenting architecture and memories of a changing neighborhood
"On Exactitude in Science (Watts)" showing on screen at the Barnes.

Image: Erica Moser

Documenting architecture and memories of a changing neighborhood

A film by Penn fine arts professor David Hartt about Watts, a historically Black neighborhood in Los Angeles, is one of five videos included in “Freedom Dreams,” an exhibition at the Barnes in Philadelphia that centers the “memories, dreams, and histories of Black Americans.”

3 min. read

Examining the important and changing landscape of children’s media
Bonnie holds Jessie and Bullseye in Toy Story 5.

(Center): Bonnie in Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5. (Image: Courtesy of Pixar. © 2026 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved)

(Image: Courtesy of Pixar. © 2026 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved)

Examining the important and changing landscape of children’s media

Penn Today talked to Annenberg’s Kim Woolf about communication theories of children’s relationships to media and how the children’s media ecosystem has evolved—topics she covers in the Children and the Media class.

3 min. read

Understanding the World Cup as a media event
Fans in the stadium in Philly during the World Cup.

“My observations show that there has been a surge in collective interest and action in Philadelphia from immigrant and diasporic communities watching the matches,” says Annenberg’s Katerina Girginova.

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Understanding the World Cup as a media event

Annenberg School for Communication’s Katerina Girginova discusses why the World Cup is such a powerful case study in communications.

From Annenberg School for Communication

2 min. read

A ‘second sight’ on American history
The cast of Sinners on stage at the Oscars receiving an award.

Image: Matt Winkelmeyer via Getty Images

A ‘second sight’ on American history

In her new book, Annenberg School for Communication professor Sarah J. Jackson traces how historical and contemporary writers, journalists, and filmmakers have strengthened the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

4 min. read

Penn filmmaking class shares the stories of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods
Two students take video of archivist holding up newspaper clipping.

Student filmmakers Harper Prentice and Hosaena Tilahun interviewed Alisha Davis, a former history teacher who has served as the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Hyperlocal Heritage archivist since August 2025. As part of America 250, Davis has been surveying collections held at Parkway Central Library and identifying archival materials for digitization, use in programming, and preservation.

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Penn filmmaking class shares the stories of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods

Graduate and undergraduate students in Alissa Jordan’s course partnered with community organizations to create five short films that touch on education, archiving, and grassroots organizing in Germantown, Northeast Philadelphia, and West Philadelphia.

3 min. read

Cutting through the cluttered media landscape
Duncan Watts and the lab members of Media Bias Lab.

Duncan Watts (far left) and managing director Jeanne Ruane (second from left) with members of Penn’s Computational Social Science Lab.

(Image: Courtesy of Inspiring Impact)

Cutting through the cluttered media landscape

Penn’s Computational Social Science Lab’s Media Bias Detector team, under founder and director Duncan Watts, explores how people behave, how media works, how society functions, and how the human mind operates.

From Penn Inspiring Impact

2 min. read

100 years of television
An old television set in front of curtained windows.

Image: Thom Lang via Getty Images

100 years of television

Annenberg faculty reflect on the history of television and the social, political, and technological changes its viewers experienced through the medium.

From Annenberg School for Communication

2 min. read