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Geoffrey Baym

Geoffrey Baym is a Professor of Media Studies in the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University. A former broadcast journalist, he has written extensively about news, democracy, and American political discourse. His work includes the award winning book From Cronkite to Colbert: The Evolution of Broadcast News and numerous scholarly articles and chapters in the fields of political communication, popular communication, and journalism studies.

Rural broadband illustration
Media, Democracy

Public Media and the Infrastructure of Democracy

Federal support for broadband expansion reflects the understanding that communication is as vital as roadways to the republic.
From left to right: Jeff Bezos, Jeremy Strong, Rupert Murdoch, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk
Media, Democracy

The Media’s Bottom-Line Problem

The health of our democracy depends on a free press. What happens when the thirst for profits, eyeballs, and clicks drives political coverage?
Illustration of two people trying to communicate through tin-can phones with a disconnected string
Media, Democracy

How Media Stifles Deliberative Democracy

As outlets that welcome rational exchanges of ideas dwindle those that serve as echo chambers are exploding. What does that mean for free speech and the health of the US?
A voter checks in at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3103 polling location on November 8, 2022 in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
Media, Democracy

What Makes Us Vote the Way We Do?

According to some political scientists, it's more about group identity than personal interests.
An illustration of a man holding his face in his hands
Media, Democracy

Is There a Cure for Information Disorder?

Researchers are concerned not only with our exposure to mis- and disinformation but with the depth of confidence people have in their inaccurate beliefs.
House Democrats applaud after Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi signed the Inflation Reduction Act, August 12, 2022
Media, Democracy

Do You Trust Your Democratic Representatives?

Scholars of politics and media have been tracking an ongoing collapse of trust in representative democracy's core institutions. What's at stake?

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