5/25
Louisa Shepard
Senior News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu
Communications
Moving away from ‘average,’ toward the individual
Moving away from ‘average,’ toward the individual
In a course from Annenberg’s David Lydon-Staley, seven graduate students conducted single-participant experiments. This approach, what’s known as an “n of 1,” may better capture the nuances of a diverse population than randomized control trials can.
How storytelling can motivate us to help others
How storytelling can motivate us to help others
A new study from Annenberg School’s Communication Neuroscience Lab finds that personal stories—instead of cold facts—make people want to help keep others safe.
Ben Franklin: A voice from the past that speaks to our time
Ben Franklin: A voice from the past that speaks to our time
At the 2022 Silfen Forum, Penn Interim President Wendell Pritchett chatted with filmmaker Ken Burns about his new two-part documentary on Benjamin Franklin.
Tech’s role in Russia’s war on Ukraine
Tech’s role in Russia’s war on Ukraine
Media scholar Courtney Radsch says tech platforms should have been faster to address Russian government propaganda, misinformation, and censorship.
People imitate accent features they expect to hear, even without hearing them
People imitate accent features they expect to hear, even without hearing them
Research from postdoc Lacey Wade confirmed this idea, what she calls expectation-driven convergence, in a controlled experiment for the first time. The work reveals just how much the subconscious factors into the way people speak.
Public media can improve our ‘flawed’ democracy
Public media can improve our ‘flawed’ democracy
A new study finds that countries with well-funded public media have healthier democracies, and explains why investment in U.S. public media is an investment in the future of journalism and democracy alike.
New COVID-19 roadmap: Four takeaways
New COVID-19 roadmap: Four takeaways
A report spearheaded by PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel, with input from other Penn experts, lays out a dozen priorities for the federal government to tackle in the next 12 months. The aim: to help guide the U.S. to the pandemic’s “next normal.”
Why unions matter for nursing
Why unions matter for nursing
A new study examines nursing’s relationship to union organizing and feminism, as well as the profession’s unique organizing challenges.
The Black Lives Matter movement, but not COVID encouraged voters toward Biden
The Black Lives Matter movement, but not COVID encouraged voters toward Biden
As swing voters registered more awareness about discrimination against Black Americans, they became more likely to vote for the party they felt would best rectify that—Democrats.
Bridging Wikipedia’s gender gap, one article at a time
Bridging Wikipedia’s gender gap, one article at a time
Wikipedia has a major gender inequity problem. In a new study, Annenberg researchers evaluate how feminist interventions are closing the gap, and how they could improve.
Media Contact
In the News
Philadelphia Inquirer
Lights. Camera. Crime
Dan Romer of the Annenberg Public Policy Center analyzed Philadelphia’s broadcast networks in 1998 and found crime coverage to be racially biased, which he concluded is tied to financial incentives. “The suburbs are the target for their advertisers because they have more wealthy households and they tend to be white,” he said. “Showing people of color attacking whites, that’s scary stuff. Now, that’s a cynical view. But I mean, it’s a business.”
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The Washington Post
Outmatched in military might, Ukraine has excelled in the information war
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center said Ukraine’s messaging strategy has been “visually evocative [and] highly dramatic.”
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Reuters
Fact Check-‘VAIDS’ is not a real vaccine-induced syndrome, experts say; no evidence COVID-19 vaccines cause immunodeficiency
Stephen Gluckman of the Perelman School of Medicine debunked false claims that vaccines can create immunodeficiency.
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The Washington Post
Three new pandemic initiatives launch as Biden hits one-year mark
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center said that even if vaccination rates continue to climb despite anti-vax sentiments, there would still be room for improvement. “Even the relatively small part of the population that accepts misinformation is problematic,” she said.
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The Hill
White House points finger at the press
Victor Pickard of the Annenberg School for Communication weighed in on the relationship between the media and the Biden administration. “They don’t want to have the same relationship that the Trump administration had, and I don’t think they do,” said Pickard.
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USA Today
Twitter accounts tied to China lied that COVID came from Maine lobsters
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center said public health disinformation from China-based social media accounts is nothing new. "Early in the pandemic, Chinese sources spread the theory that SARS CoV-2 originated at Fort Detrick and was spread to China by U.S. military," she said. "The platforms can remove it, or if they decide against doing so, can downgrade it or flag it and attach fact-checking content."
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