10.21
Louisa Shepard
News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu
Communications
The 2016 election did not increase political polarization
The 2016 election did not increase political polarization
A new study by Annenber’s Yphtach Lelkes indicates that America is politically polarized, but the findings show no statistical difference between the levels of partisanship in 2014 and 2017.
A conversation with Julia Ticona
A conversation with Julia Ticona
In the latest episode of “Office Hours,” a Penn Today podcast, Assistant Professor of Communication Julia Ticona explains her research about the gig economy and chitchats about cooking, campus, and superpowers.
A simple intervention enduringly reduces anti-Muslim sentiment
A simple intervention enduringly reduces anti-Muslim sentiment
Research from the Annenberg School for Communication found that calling out the hypocrisy of collective blame—holding an entire group that’s not our own responsible for acts of a single person—significantly lessened hostile sentiments toward that group.
Signaling the trustworthiness of science
Signaling the trustworthiness of science
Public confidence in science has remained high and stable for years. But recent decades have seen incidents of scientific fraud and misconduct, failure to replicate key findings, and growth in the number of retractions—all of which may affect trust in science.
Public awareness of nuclear, refinery, and fracking sites
Public awareness of nuclear, refinery, and fracking sites
Just over half of the U.S. adults living within 25 miles of a nuclear site say they do, according to the new study of proximity and risk perceptions from the Annenberg Public Policy Center. The more risk that people thought the nuclear, refinery, and fracking sites posed, the less likely they were to report that they lived near one.
Seeing life through their eyes
Seeing life through their eyes
Through the voices and stories of seven men, a feature-length documentary co-produced and directed by Annenberg Dean John L. Jackson Jr. and graduate student Nora Gross illustrates what it means to be black and gay in the south.
Brevity is the soul of Twitter
Brevity is the soul of Twitter
A new study from the Annenberg School for Communication finds that the 280-character limit makes Twitter more civil.
When pediatricians become podcasters, who tunes in?
When pediatricians become podcasters, who tunes in?
Sophomore Julia Kafozoff, a Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia intern, is working with three podcasting physicians to determine how much listeners actually learn from these educational tools.
Is Huawei a national security threat?
Is Huawei a national security threat?
Christopher Yoo, professor of law, communication, and computer and information science, describes why the Chinese technology company has become a hot topic of conversation in national security circles.
Echo chambers may not be as dangerous as you think
Echo chambers may not be as dangerous as you think
Research on the “wisdom of crowds” has found that access to information exchange can increase the likelihood that beliefs are accurate, even contentious partisan political beliefs, among homogenous groups.
Media Contact
In the News
Fast Co. Design
The Magic Number of People Needed to Create Social Change
The Annenberg School for Communication’s Damon Centola was cited for his research on social change, which found that just 25 percent of a given group would need to adopt a new norm to convince everyone else to follow.
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Reuters
Viral content-vaccine scandal test Beijing’s grip on information control
The Annenberg School for Communication’s Kecheng Fang discussed the Chinese government’s failed attempts to suppress discourse about current events on WeChat, a popular messaging platform. “This is a guerrilla war. The government cannot tackle it just like it does traditional media,” said Fang.
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