Author Archive
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The Research Report
The Climate for Science Reporting
July 5, 2011 08:06 PMEarly in December 2009, politicians, media representatives, and NGO officials queued up outside the Bella Center from eight in the morning until late in the afternoon for the Copenhagen climate-change summit—in freezing conditions: “Some gave up, complaining that global warming... Continue reading
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The Research Report
How to Dow
May 1, 2011 08:00 AMStock-market indices offer an alluring impression of rigor and certainty. But what do they really mean? The University of Michigan political scientist Arthur Lupia and five colleagues argue in the January 2011 edition of Political Communication that... Continue reading
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The Research Report
The Public Screen
February 23, 2011 04:45 PMThe television set had arrived in the majority of American households by 1955. Inspired by the popular ideals of domesticity, “togetherness,” and a new culture of immense consumer spending, middle-class families rearranged their living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, dens,... Continue reading
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The Research Report
Any Questions?
January 27, 2011 10:15 AMSociolinguists are sociologists who study how people talk to one another. They are typically interested in naturally occurring speech, but unfortunately (for them) the preponderance of such communication disappears into the ether as it’s spoken. So where can the... Continue reading
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The Research Report
In ACORN’s Shadow
December 1, 2010 04:45 PMRemember ACORN, the community-organizing group that got caught in the electoral crossfire between one-time community organizer Barack Obama and a highly motivated, conspiracy-minded contingent of conservative activists? The repeated attacks on ACORN for “voter fraud” moved into Sarah Palin’s... Continue reading
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The Research Report
Snapshots of War
September 30, 2010 05:21 PMIn April, WikiLeaks released a graphic video entitled “Collateral Murder,” which shows U.S. soldiers shooting from a helicopter on a group of Iraqis while making triumphant comments. The WikiLeak triggered heated discussions about who has the right to take... Continue reading
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The Research Report
Philadelphia Story
July 6, 2010 12:36 PMEverybody knows that newspapers have been cutting jobs, cutting services, cutting corners. It is not so widely acknowledged that these cuts seem to be keeping them in the ring. Advertising is down, circulation is down, stories and pages are... Continue reading
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The Research Report
French Connections
May 3, 2010 03:38 PMIf you think about European print media at all, you are likely to think of newspapers that stake out ideologically precise points along the political spectrum from left to right, in contrast to an American press that is much... Continue reading
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The Research Report
True to Form
February 25, 2010 03:35 PMEven the ways we think about revolutionary forces shape our revolutions. Revolutions are products of multiple institutional and personal decisions, inventions, and adaptations. This is as true of what we commonly call technological revolutions—including the digital revolution—as of others.... Continue reading
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The Research Report
Beyond Transparency
January 8, 2010 07:34 PMA picture is worth a thousand words—but to whom? To the people who see it? Or to those who present it as their carefully orchestrated version of reality? More readily accessible visualization of data does not necessarily translate into... Continue reading
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The Research Report
Mourning Becomes Electric
December 8, 2009 05:28 PMFragmented. Few words are used more often to describe the media environment today. People disappear into their iPods, iPhones, BlackBerrys, Kindles, and laptops. They tweet, blog, Facebook, podcast, and wend their way through their favorite cultural and political sites. In... Continue reading
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The Research Report
Opening Minds
October 6, 2009 09:34 PMViewers of The Colbert Report do not all see the same show. Liberals see host Stephen Colbert as a liberal acting the part of intolerant blowhard. Conservatives, in contrast, identify with many of the attitudes Colbert affects and relish the... Continue reading
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The Audit Business
- Audit Notes: pyramid people, Disney and ABC, no USA Today paywall Roddy Boyd digs into a diet-shake pyramid scheme
- Hot air Rises Above on CNBC An anchor pins a minor dip in stocks on the TV appearance of a minor politician
The Observatory Science
- Dull news from Doha UN climate summit a ho-hum affair for the press
- Highway to the danger zone Following Sandy, HuffPo and NYT dig into the folly of coastal development
Campaign Desk Politics & Policy
- NBC News sets good example for Medicare reporting People perspective leads to clear explanation of impact of proposed changes
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