A man in a wheelchair pushing a shopping cart

Media Portrayals of the Americans with Disabilities Act

After the passage of the ADA, much of the media coverage focused on litigation and whether or not certain disabled people “deserved” accommodations.
Illustration of two people trying to communicate through tin-can phones with a disconnected string

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.

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

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

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?
Flag of Mohawk Warriors Society

How the Media Framed the Oka Crisis as Terrorism

For over two months in 1990, Indigenous activists defended Kanien'kehá:ka lands against encroachment. They were portrayed negatively.
Marker drawing of Rodney King speaking while a recording of the beating plays at his civil trial against the city of Los Angeles, California

How the Media Covered Police Brutality Three Decades Ago

The first stories about the beating of Rodney King in two major newspapers focused on racial injustice. But that changed.
A man watches the CNN broadcast of the Osama bin Laden tape December 13, 2001 in a New York City store after it was released by the Pentagon.

How the Media Can Define Terrorism

Two scholars argue that the language used to describe violent events influences whether people see it as terrorism—with real-world consequences.
Cover of The Seed

The Campus Underground Press

The 1960s and 70s were a time of activism in the U.S., and therefore a fertile time for campus newspapers and the alternative press.
Silhouette of office lady using smartphone in city

Fake News: A Media Literacy Reading List

Compiled by graduate students in a 2016 course on “Activism and Digital Culture,” at University of Southern California.