11/15
Louisa Shepard
Senior News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu
Communications
When the message matters, use science to craft it
When the message matters, use science to craft it
An interdisciplinary initiative called the Message Effects Lab aims to understand, tap into, and develop communication around what motivates specific behaviors for specific populations. Its first projects center around COVID-19 testing and vaccines.
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.
Dissecting chaos: An interdisciplinary look at the attack on the U.S. Capitol
Dissecting chaos: An interdisciplinary look at the attack on the U.S. Capitol
Faculty from five schools at the University took part in a virtual panel discussion to unpack the policies, messages, and conditions that led to the events of Jan. 6.
Arab Spring, 10 years later
Arab Spring, 10 years later
A virtual panel at the Middle East Center looked at the legacy and long-term impact of the 2011 uprisings and how the region has been redefined by them.
Researchers measure different types of curiosity studying ‘hunters and busybodies’
Researchers measure different types of curiosity studying ‘hunters and busybodies’
A multidisciplinary study has found a way to readily quantify the information-seeking associated with curiosity and explore mechanisms underlying information-seeking.
Why independent cultures think alike when it comes to categories
Why independent cultures think alike when it comes to categories
In discovering how groups categorize unfamiliar shapes, research out of Annenberg’s Network Dynamics Group finds that intrinsic social experiences are at the root of problem solving, rather than the human brain itself.
The influence and importance of language
The influence and importance of language
Labels for what happened Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol were very different from those used to describe the Black Lives Matter movement or the 2020 election results. How much weight do individual words actually have? It depends on the context.
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.
How researchers scrub Twitter for health data from real humans—not bots
How researchers scrub Twitter for health data from real humans—not bots
For more than 10 years, Graciela Gonzalez-Hernandez has been studying natural language across social media to inform clinical care, carefully sifting through language to determine which voices qualify as patient experiences.
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 Contact
In the News
Newsweek
Trump Jr. hails ‘new cultural movement’ as athletes imitate ‘Trump dance’
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that Donald Trump’s support among fans of mixed martial arts is evidence of how he’s tapped into segments of the electorate ordinarily neglected by politicians.
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Axios
Charted: 988 awareness still low
A survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center finds that public awareness of the 988 national suicide prevention hotline is growing but still low, with remarks from Kathleen Hall Jamieson.
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The Washington Post
Trust in science hasn’t fully recovered from pandemic controversies
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that Republican lawmakers engaged in a sustained attack on a sector of science during and after the pandemic.
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Bloomberg
More than two million voters backed both Trump and abortion access
Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that Donald Trump’s ambiguity on abortion served him well during his campaign.
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Newsweek
Donald Trump, evangelicals and the 2024 MAGA coalition
Shawn Patterson Jr. of the Annenberg Public Policy Center says that Donald Trump was largely an apolitical figure in 2016 with a wide array of celebrity relationships, donations to candidates of both parties, and a career in New York real estate.
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NBC News
The U.S. has a new strategy for combating foreign election interference, but is it working?
According to Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, democracies are based on common understandings, among them that rival political factions will accept election outcomes and work to win back power at the next opportunity.
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