Communications

Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center weighed in on President Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. “The trustworthiness of a president in a time of national crisis is his most important asset,” she said. “And when he says things that are proven to be untrue, or problematic from a public health standpoint, that erodes his credibility and the capacity of the country to prepare adequately.”

Victor Pickard of the Annenberg School for Communication joined a discussion about a peace deal between the U.S. and the Taliban as well as the loss of local newspapers and journalists.

Jessa Lingel of the Annenberg School for Communication spoke about the founders of Craigslist. “They’re both just old-school engineer type guys who just really believe in keeping the design as simple and functional as possible,” she said. “[I]t’s never had a competitor that was really able to swallow up its user base. It’s had loyal customers all along, loyal users all along, so it’s just never been forced to adapt.”

Postdoc Dominik Stecula of the Annenberg School for Communication said it was “worrying” to see so much misinformation about vaccines on social media. The study he led found that nearly 1 in 5 American adults has a false belief about vaccines.

María Celeste Wagner, a doctoral candidate in the Annenberg School for Communication, spoke about the media’s effects on the public’s feelings and sense of democracy since the 2016 presidential election.