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Vaccine misinformation and social media
Hands holding smartphone with fingers poised over screen

Vaccine misinformation and social media

People who look to social media for information are more likely to be misinformed about vaccines than those who rely on traditional media.

Penn Today Staff

What craigslist can teach us about Web 2.0
A person standing in a library stack, with shelves of books on either side. Jessa Lingel, an assistant professor at the Annenberg School for Communication.

What craigslist can teach us about Web 2.0

In a new book, Annenberg’s Jessa Lingel views modern online life through the lens of a site that hasn’t changed much in look or feel since it began 25 years ago.

Michele W. Berger , Julie Sloane

What is your risk from smoking? Your network knows
hand holding a lit cigarette in foreground, parent holding a toddler and putting out their hand to indicate stop smoking in background.

What is your risk from smoking? Your network knows

A new study from researchers at the Annenberg School for Communication found that most people—smokers and nonsmokers alike—were nowhere near accurate in their answers to questions about the health effects of smoking.

Penn Today Staff

FactCheck.org debunks coronavirus myths
This illustration reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses.

This illustration, created at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reveals ultrastructural morphology exhibited by coronaviruses. (Image: Alissa Eckert, Dan Higgins/Annenberg Public Policy Center)

FactCheck.org debunks coronavirus myths

Since China first reported an atypical cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan in late December, myths abound about the virus responsible for the outbreak, the novel coronavirus. To combat misinformation, the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org has published a series of articles countering common misunderstandings and mistruths.

Penn Today Staff

How the coronavirus has tested China’s system of information control

How the coronavirus has tested China’s system of information control

Guobin Yang of the Annenberg School for Communication and School of Arts and Sciences spoke about the Chinese supreme court’s decision to clear eight people in Wuhan accused of spreading rumors about coronavirus. The verdict “says that you can’t punish these eight people. It also reaffirms the rule that you can’t spread rumors,” Yang said. “But what is a rumor, and what is not? That’s still up to the public-security people to decide.”

How to talk someone out of bigotry

How to talk someone out of bigotry

Emile Bruneau of the Annenberg School for Communication commented on a promising new study that used “deep canvassing” to challenge prejudices and change minds. However, he said, the study didn’t address the theoretical underpinnings of why the change occurred. “Without that theoretical understanding, it’s difficult to generalize and use the approach in other settings,” said Bruneau.