Communications | Penn Today

Delli Carpini sits on bright red chair in Annenberg School lobby

‘One of the highlights of my life’

As his time as dean of the Annenberg School comes to a close, Michael X. Delli Carpini reflects on the impact he hopes he’s had.

The other way the National Enquirer helped elect Trump

The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s Kathleen Hall Jamieson discussed the role of tabloids in shaping the 2016 election. “Even as we look at extreme content and say, ‘That’s ridiculous, I dismiss that,’ it changes our sense of where the middle of the distribution of the content is,” she said. “It pushes open our acceptance of extreme content.”

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.

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