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.
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?
What Makes Us Vote the Way We Do?
According to some political scientists, it's more about group identity than personal interests.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.