News | Blogs

Selected recent writing or coverage (interviews or cited research) in news outlets and blogs:

• Which is the fairest electoral system? Mega-election year sparks debate, by Ramin Skibba, Nature

• TV coverage has been more positive about Kamala Harris, by Danny Hayes, Good Authority

• Republican lawmakers’ framing of Critical Race Theory means that for many Americans, the term can activate deep-seated prejudices, LSE USAPP Blog

• The puzzle of Americans’ economic pessimism isn’t a puzzle at all, by John Sides, Good Authority

• People may be thinking that the US economy is poor because future economic indicators have been trending downwards, LSE USAPP Blog

• Are we drawn to negativity?, Nights, Radio New Zealand

• Why the news is so negative — and what we can do about it, by Dylan Matthews, Vox

• Why Do We Doomscroll?, Why Do We Do That Podcast, BBC Radio 4

• The Great Delusion Behind Twitter, by Ezra Klein, New York Times

• Does the media convey accurate information about what policymakers do?, Center for Political Studies blog

• How Does the Public Move Right When Policy Moves Left?, by Matt Grossmann, The Science of Politics Podcast

• Just How Accurate Are American News Media?, MediaWell (Social Science Research Council)

• Media Coverage Isn’t as Bad as You Might Think, fifteeneightyfour (Cambridge University Press blog)

• COVID safety precautions are as important as ever. Here’s how to persuade resisters, by Angela Y. Lee, USA Today, Detroit Free Press, Arizona Republic, Indianapolis Star

• Can dairy adapt to climate change?, by Emily Kasriel, BBC News

• Real-time analysis shows that the first debate shifted attitudes among Twitter users towards Biden and the second solidified them, LSE USAPP Blog

• Biden eliminated attack ads during Trump’s hospital stay. Trump’s campaign saw no need for a softer tone, by Graham Kates, CBS News

• Personality and Sheltering-in-Place During the Pandemic, Psychology Today

• Fed Up with Endless Gloom, Social-Media Users Are Pulling Back, by Anushree Dave, Newsweek

• 2020 Election coverage that is part of ‘The Breakthrough’ project with CNN, SSRS, and colleagues at Michigan and Georgetown:

  • Methodological introduction: Aug 16; subsequent articles: Aug 16, Aug 21, Aug 27, Sept 3, Sept 10, Sept 17, Sept 24, Sept 29, Oct 8, Oct 15, Oct 22, Oct 29, Nov 3

• Hunger for ‘good news’ grows as pandemic woes deepen, RFI, and Al Jazeera

• Why does so much news seem negative? Human attention may be to blame, by Amina Kahn, LA Times

• For COVID news, always read beyond the scary headline, Psychology Today

• Worldwide, humans are more responsive to negative news, study suggests, MinnPost

• You Might Not Really Be As Into All This Negative News As You Seem, NPR/WBUR

• Brasileiros prestam mais atenção em notícias negativas, mostra estudo, BBC Brasil

• Negative news evokes stronger psychophysiological reactions than positive news, PsyPost

• Polarization of climate change news is no hoax, Michigan News

• Media Coverage Doesn’t Actually Determine Public Opinion On The Economy, FiveThirtyEight

• Accuracy in Reporting on Public Policy, CPS Blog

• Smartphone-size screens make it harder to pay attention to and understand news stories, LSE Impact Blog

• Screen size matters: Consumers less attentive to news content on small screens, Michigan News

• How your phone’s screen changes the way you react to the news, Inverse

• The Moon landing reminds us of the importance of good news, New Statesman

• The Elusive Media Bump for (Most) Presidential Candidates, by Jo Craven McGinty, Wall Street Journal

• This fallacy helps explain why Republicans have pursued such unpopular policies, Lior Sheffer & Peter Loewen, Washington Post / The Monkey Cage

• Divided by Culture: Partisan Imagery and Political Evaluations, CPS blog.

• How President Trump helped the media lose the 2018 midterm elections, LSE USAPP

• Work on the 2016 presidential election, as part of the electiondynamics.org project, is used in articles on CNN State, CNN and HuffPo .  A mid-campaign talk is available on video from the CPS here; and the broader project is here.

• Media obsession with a bullshit email scandal helped Trump to the White House, by Matthew Yglesias, Vox

• What psychology reveals about the Brexit vote, by Shannon Proudfoot, Maclean’s 

• Remember that study saying America is an oligarchy? 3 rebuttals say it’s wrong, by Dylan Matthews, Vox

• Why do we pay more attention to negative news than to positive news?, LSE Politics & Policy

• The media and public opinion react to changes in economic conditions, not the state of the economy in general, LSE USAPP.

• It’s (Change in) the (Future) Economy, Stupid, AJPS blog.

• Psychology: Why bad news dominates the headlines, BBC. 

• We’re Really Not So Negative, CUP / fifteeneightyfour. 

• Tired of ‘negative’ news? Then, why do we prefer it?, Rudy Apodaca, Houston Chronicle

• Why Is It So Cool to Be Gloomy?, by Matt Ridley, Wall Street Journal

• Does public broadcasting increase current affairs knowledge?, by Joshua Tucker, Washington Post / The Monkey Cage 

• Why Canadians and Americans will never agree on health care, by Julia Belluz, Vox

• Public wants bad political news, study finds, by Susan Delacourt, Toronto Star.

• Public broadcasting creates informed citizens – but only if we invest in it, Globe and Mail.