Communications | Penn Today

The media’s holiday suicide myth will never die

Daniel Romer of the Annenberg Public Policy Center offered commentary on decades of erroneous claims that suicide rates increase during the holiday season. “It looks like this myth will not go away. Ever,” said Romer.

Why the speech George H.W. Bush didn’t give may be his most important

Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center said the late George Bush’s notable restraint after the Berlin Wall fell characterized his presidency. “Sometimes the right thing to do is not celebrate and engage in a rhetoric of triumph,” she said.

Penn study: Marijuana doesn’t cause bad behavior — it’s the other way around

A new study, co-authored by Dan Romer of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, has found that marijuana may not be the “gateway drug” it was once thought to be. “Previous research had suggested that using marijuana would lead to conduct problems,” said Romer. “We found the exact reverse.”

Coren Apicella and Corey Cusimano standing to the side as Geoff Goodwin speaks at a podium.

Social scientists trade academic silos for shared work space

Faculty and grad students in the new Social and Behavioral Sciences Initiative have access to two state-of-the-art labs, grants, and a collaborative environment aimed at creating a vibrant research community.

Q&A

Getting science right in the fake news era

Over his career as a science journalist, Carl Zimmer has seen legitimate science reporting denied and illegitimate science news taken as fact. In advance of a talk at Penn, Zimmer discusses the problem of misinformation and offers tips for avoiding being fooled by bogus science stories.

From book clubs to cookware, BuzzFeed finds new ways to make money

Victor Pickard of the Annenberg School for Communication said that advertising is ceasing to be an effective revenue model for digital media publications like Buzzfeed. “I hope I am proven wrong because our society desperately needs journalism, especially now,” he said.

Gritty’s first month: The heroic ascendance of a ‘ghastly empty-eyed Muppet’

Noting the new Flyers mascot’s popularity, the Wharton School’s Americus Reed said that Gritty’s eccentric social media presence is like “a quasi-reality TV show.” The orange creature is “taking on a life of its own,” he said.

Just advertising during the Super Bowl could appear political for brands

Diana Mutz of the Annenberg School for Communication and the School of Arts and Sciences offered commentary on celebrity activism. “Will anyone remember who did not appear in Super Bowl ads?” she asked. “Or does the attention and influence necessarily fall to those who do? My guess is the latter.”

At the border town that the news cycle has left behind

Brian Rosenwald of the School of Arts and Sciences discussed the shifting news cycle and what gets forgotten by mainstream media. Popular stories need “compelling video and pictures and black and white story lines” in order to keep the public’s attention, he said.

Barbie Zelizer, the Raymond Williams Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication, is also the director of the Center for Media at Risk.

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Q&A

Political intimidation, at-risk media, and the future of journalism

In the wake of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s death, Barbie Zelizer, director of the Center for Media at Risk, discusses how journalists and other digital media practitioners can better prepare for working in today’s climate and why, for that to happen, the media culture needs to shift.

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