Two students that I have worked with over the past few years have secured tenure-track positions. Jason Peifer will be an Assistant Professor of Journalism in the Media School at Indiana University, Bloomington starting in the Fall. Jason has a professional background in journalism, and is particularly interested in political entertainment. Dustin Carnahan will be an Assistant Professor of Communication in the College of Communication Arts & Sciences at Michigan State University. Dustin shares my interest in politically motivated selective exposure, with an emphasis on the factors that shape when and how this behavior is enacted, and what its consequences are. Congratulations to both of them on reaching the next stage of their careers.
Invited lecture
I was honored to deliver a talk as a part of the University of Missouri Political Communication Institute’s Distinguished Lecture Series. I presented some of my latest work on political misperceptions. PCI has a great group of faculty and is doing some very interesting things.
Best paper in Political Behavior
Dustin Carnahan, Emily Lynch, and I are honored to have been named inaugural recipients of the “Best Paper in Political Behavior” award at this year’s APSA. The Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior section gave the award for our 2013 paper, “A Turn Toward Avoidance? Selective Exposure to Online Political Information, 2004-2008.” An abstract can be found here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11109-011-9185-6.
Oxford Handbook of Political Communication now available
I’m delighted to report that the Oxford Handbook of Political Communication is now online. The handbook includes a chapter by Chip Eveland and I discussing the role of communication in promoting political knowledge. The review is already a little bit dated, but I still think there are some interesting ideas there. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199793471.013.018
Online news can both promote and constrain political participation
My recently published collaboration with Jennifer Brundidge, Hernando Rojas, and Homero Gil de Zúñiga shows that consuming and commenting on online news can promote political participation, but that those who comment on counter-attitudinal news tend to be less politically active. Read more here…
New paper at JoC
Talia Stroud and I have a new paper at the Journal of Communication offering further evidence of the distinction between selective approach and selective avoidance, and testing whether Democrats and Republicans engage in different forms of selective exposure. The paper is now available online: 10.1111/jcom.12105
Collaboration with Nisbet, Cooper wins award
A new paper that looks at science misperceptions and partisan bias, titled “The Partisan Brain: How Dissonant Science Messages Lead Conservatives and Liberals to (Dis)trust science” has been been awarded the third place faculty paper award by the ComSHER division of AEJMC. We will be presenting the paper in August.
New Paper at HCR
A paper resulting from cross-national collaboration with faculty in Israel is now available at Human Communication Research.
Garrett, R. K., Gvirsman, S. D., Johnson, B. K., Tsfati, Y., Neo, R., & Dal, A. (2014). Implications of Pro- and Counterattitudinal Information Exposure for Affective Polarization. Human Communication Research, n/a-n/a. doi: 10.1111/hcre.12028
Congratulations to Brian Weeks
Congratulations to my advisee, Brian Weeks, who successfully defended his dissertation this month. Now he’s off to the Department of Communication at the University of Vienna in Austria.
Nice coverage on misperception research
My research team has been getting some good news media coverage on our work looking at misperceptions and corrections. Check it out over on the Misperceptions project website.