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Talking the Deadspin debacle, the future of digital news, and more
Pickard in his office

Talking the Deadspin debacle, the future of digital news, and more

Victor Pickard, an associate professor at the Annenberg School for Communication, chats with Penn Today about how the recent happenings at the sports blog are reminiscent of a worsening journalism crisis in the U.S.

Lauren Hertzler

Why confidence is key to persuasion
Two people shaking hands, one smiles confidently.

Why confidence is key to persuasion

Wharton’s Jonah Berger discusses his new research on how vocal cues affect a speaker’s ability to persuade others.

Penn Today Staff

Mark Zuckerberg speech draws ire as he attempts to burnish Facebook’s image

Mark Zuckerberg speech draws ire as he attempts to burnish Facebook’s image

Michael Delli Carpini of the Annenberg School for Communication said large companies like Facebook have a responsibility to screen ads for misleading content. “One person’s inaccuracy is another person’s speculation hat. What is and is not true is not easily determined a lot of times,” he said.

The 2016 election did not increase political polarization
Cartoon Democrat donkey butting heads with a cartoon Republican elephant.

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. 

Penn Today Staff

  • Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

    • Office Hours: Julia Ticona talks sociology and superpowers

    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.
    Julia Ticona smiles with her hands in her pockets
    Julia Ticona, assistant professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication. 

    Welcome to the “office hours” of Julia Ticona, assistant professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication.

    Here, in the latest episode of Penn Today’s “Office Hours” podcast series, which explores the minds of the University’s academic talents in a more unbuttoned setting outside of the lecture hall, Ticona unpacks the “sociological imagination,” explains how people are adapting to new technologies and gig economies born from them, and what superpower she’d embrace if given the choice. 

    1:12: The “sociological imagination” and what Ticona studies

    3:50: The “actual story” of how the cell phone kickstarted her research

    13:55: Smartphones as a utility

    23:20: Chitchat about roller rinks, who she’d invite to an ideal dinner, and more

    34:22: Which superpower she’d choose between reading minds, being invisible, or flying

    Download "Office Hours" on Apple Music

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    Brandon K. Baker

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    • A simple intervention enduringly reduces anti-Muslim sentiment
    A person in a black tee-shirt standing in front of windows.

    Emile Bruneau, director of the Peace and Conflict Neuroscience Lab at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication and the lead scientist for Boston-based Beyond Conflict Innovation Lab.

    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.

    Michele W. Berger , Julie Sloane

    Signaling the trustworthiness of science
    A researcher in protective clothing and gloves gathers a water sample from a river.

    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.

    Penn Today Staff

    Public awareness of nuclear, refinery, and fracking sites
    cooling towers of a nuclear power plant

    Image: Fredography (via Unsplash)

    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.

    Penn Today Staff

    Seeing life through their eyes
    African American person sitting in a wooden chair, feet up on a wooden table that holds a ball jar filled with sweet tea.

    E. Patrick Johnson (above) stars in “Making Sweet Tea,” a 90-minute film about life as an African American gay man in the southern United States. The film, which was co-produced and co-directed by Annenberg Dean John L. Jackson Jr. and Penn doctoral student Nora Gross, is based on a book Johnson wrote, which then became a play.

    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.

    Michele W. Berger