Research

People who relied on conservative or social media in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak were more likely to be misinformed about how to prevent the virus and believe conspiracy theories about it, a study of media use and public knowledge has found.

Based on an Annenberg Science Knowledge survey fielded in early March with over a thousand adults, the study was conducted by researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Annenberg researchers study everything from the ongoing crisis in journalism, to how gig workers use apps to make a living, to efforts to get smokers to quit. But no matter their area of specialty, many Annenberg faculty and students have responded to recent events by pivoting their work to address what may be the world’s most urgent problem: coronavirus, or COVID-19.

The Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication is proud to present CARGC Paper 13, “Toward a Cultural Framework of Internet Governance: Russia’s Great Power Identity and the Quest for a Multipolar Digital Order,” by CARGC Postdoctoral Fellow Stanislav Budnitsky.

Since China first reported an atypical cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan in late December, the internet has been swarming with myths about the coronavirus. To combat misinformation about the virus, APPC’s FactCheck.org has published a series of articles.

How many people will die from tobacco use in developed countries in 2030?

A new study from researchers at the Annenberg School for Communication found that most people — smokers and non-smokers alike — were nowhere near accurate in their answers to this and other questions about the health effects of smoking. But critically, the study, conducted by doctoral candidate Douglas Guilbeault and Professor Damon Centola, found a way to help people be more accurate in their assessment of smoking’s risks: discussing their ideas with other people.

A new report from the Media, Inequality and Change (MIC) Center examines Rideshare Drivers United’s strategies for organizing gig workers and offers recommendations for replicating its success.

Eight Annenberg faculty members and graduate students will present at the National Communication Association’s 105th Annual Convention, to be held November 14-17 in Baltimore. The presentations are listed below, along with locations.

Thursday, November 14

9:30-10:45am

The Effects and Prevention of Smoking, Vaping, and Chewing (Hilton Baltimore, Key Ballroom 12)

You’d be hard pressed to find someone who would disagree that American politics are highly partisan. Partisanship has been on the rise since the 1970s, and the consensus among the media seems to be that political polarization has skyrocketed since the beginning of the campaign season for the 2016 presidential election.

Public confidence in science has remained high and stable for years. But recent decades have seen incidents of scientific fraud and misconduct, failure to replicate key findings, and growth in the number of retractions — all of which may affect trust in science.

Many users thought doubling Twitter’s character limit from 140 characters to 280 could only make the platform more prone to bullying. But a new study, led by Professor Yphtach Lelkes, found that the average quality of conversation improved.