Communication in the News

Hamilton looks at how presidents – past and present – have navigated relationships with the White House press corps.

Virtual Human Interaction Lab researchers found that people who underwent a virtual reality experience, called “Becoming Homeless,” were more empathetic toward the homeless and more likely to sign a petition in support of affordable housing than other study participants.

The first project the Stanford Journalism and Democracy Initiative is initiating is “Big Local News,” an effort to help local newsrooms with the data collection and analysis needed for investigative reporting.

Prof. Jeff Hancock on the American Psychological Association’s “Speaking of Psychology” podcast.

Prof. Fred Turner has been studying the role of art and countercultural movements – including the communal, participatory lifestyle celebrated at the annual Burning Man festival – that have had far-reaching influence in the workplace of tech firms.

Prof. James Fishkin’s Op-Ed in The Wall Street Journal discusses how representative panels of the populace have helped choose energy policy in Texas, constitutional amendments in Mongolia, and other issues in 28 countries.

A survey by Prof. Jon Krosnick shows Americans overwhelmingly want a reduction in global warming and support renewable energy development.

Prof. Fred Turner is a guest on Stanford Radio’s “The Future of Everything with Russ Altman”.

What would it be like to live in the body of someone else? In this video Prof. Jeremy Bailenson describes how virtual reality experiences can increase empathy for others.

Prof. Shanto Iyengar and Graduate School of Business Prof. Neil Malhotra discuss affective polarization. Interparty animus is clearly manifest in real-world behaviors — and the pervasiveness of these effects is astonishing.

A diverse group of journalism innovators, entrepreneurs and leaders from around the world will make up the 2018-2019 class of John S. Knight (JSK) Journalism Fellows.

Lying about availability is a common deception mobile app daters tell their potential partners, according to a new paper by Prof. Jeff Hancock and David Markowitz

As virtual reality rapidly expands into American households, it is critical that parents and educators be informed about its potential effect on kids.

Prof. Byron Reeves developed a way to accurately track our digital lives. How do those two-to-three hours a day spent on the phone break down?

With real-time web analytics, journalists and editors now know more about traffic to their stories than ever before. But it doesn’t always result in the best stories. Prof. Christin explored the influence of these metrics in an American and a French newsroom.

Prof. Jeremy Bailenson discusses the growing body of scientific evidence showing that creating empathy in virtual reality is more successful if the headset wearer moves around.

In “The Strengthening of Partisan Affect”, Professor Shanto Iyengar and colleague show that building strength of partisan antipathy — “negative partisanship” — has radically altered politics. Anger has become the primary tool for motivating voters.

People believe that elected officials are not paying enough attention to the general public. This finding emerged from a study led by Professor Jon Krosnick about how Americans think legislators should and do decide to vote.

Probabilistic forecasts can give potential voters the impression that one candidate will win more decisively and may even lower the likelihood that they vote, according to a new study by Sean Westwood of Dartmouth, Yphtach Lelkes of the University of Pennsylvania and Solomon Messing of Pew Research Center.

Professor James Fishkin discusses how an old idea from ancient Athens — selecting random citizens to deliberate — is making a difference around the world from bringing wind power to Texas to reforming the Mongolian constitution.

Book gives and in-depth look at virtual reality and how it can be harnessed to improve our everyday lives.

Social Media Lab researchers contend that you’re not necessarily addicted if you need to be with your phone all the time. The mere presence of your phone is a more pleasant and productive experience than the complete absence of that beloved device.

The Bass University Fellows in Undergraduate Education Program recognizes faculty for their exceptional contributions to undergraduate education.

Jesmyn Ward, MA Media Studies and Communication 2000, was awarded a 2017 MacArthur fellowship for exceptionally creative people.

Professor James Fishkin argues that the President of France could best realize his plan for a Europe wide dialogue about the future of the EU by using the Deliberative Poll.

Cheryl Phillips discusses how programs can incorporate data as a basic journalism skill that enables reporters, editors, graphic designers and others to do their jobs better.

In a research paper recently published in Big Data & Society, Professor Angèle Christin found a gap between the intended and actual uses of algorithms in the fields of web journalism and criminal justice.

Jeremy Bailenson says “In VR you should do things that you couldn’t do otherwise, but I don’t believe in VR that you should do things you wouldn’t do otherwise.”

Students enrolled in Jennifer Pan’s Communication Research Methods designed small-scale research studies for a local nonprofit organization that offers one-on-one tutoring to children.

“If you go back to the days of the Civil War, one can find cases in American political history where there was far more rancor and violence,” says Shanto Iyengar. “But in the modern era, there are no ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ — partisan animus is at an all-time high.”

Ronald Alexander was best known for his attention to detail and dedication to his students. The professor emeritus of communication had a distinguished career at the National Film Board of Canada before joining the Stanford faculty in 1970.

A meeting between James Fishkin and Gombojav Zandanshatar, a member of Mongolia’s parliament, inspired a new law that requires an in-depth method of public opinion polling to take place before an amendment to Mongolia’s constitution can be enacted.

JSK Director Dawn Garcia is excited to announce the 2017-2018 John S. Knight Journalism Fellows

Hamilton’s Democracy’s Detectives: The Economics of Investigative Journalism is the winner for the best book on journalism and mass communication based on original research published in 2016.