iProtest: Social Media and the Evolving Nature of Media Activism
– Guest post by Luis Hestres, American University doctoral student. Reposted from Big Think’s Age of Engagement, Nov. 17, 2011. To say that new information technologies are revolutionizing political activism has become a tried and true cliché. It also happens to be true. Even as debates rage over the impact of technology on political activism,…
Online News and the End of Political Disagreement
As our political and media systems rapidly evolve, social scientists are revisiting and updating existing models, theories, and methods for investigating the effects of the media on political attitudes and behavior. Among topics, understanding the relationship between media and political polarization remains perhaps the most complex and challenging. For the forthcoming 2012 edition of Communication Yearbook, an…
How Scientists View the Public, the Media, and the Political Process
Most scientists in the US and UK blame public ignorance of science for flawed policy preferences and political choices. They tend to be critical of media coverage, yet rate favorably their own experience with the media. Scientists say policy-makers and journalists are the most important groups to engage and view the public as having secondary…