In a major initiative to change the way Americans see Africa, the Lear Center’s Media Impact Project has released a seminal report that reveals that Americans seldom see mentions of Africa or Africans on popular television shows or in the news; and when they do, the portrayals are often negative… More
This analysis of Twitter sentiment in the wake of news reports that President Donald J. Trump had characterized some African nations as “shithole countries” reveals a substantial 66% increase in negative tweets about Trump, and a dramatic increase of over 3,000% in the volume of mentions of Africa. However, there… More
This report presents a media content analysis conducted by the Lear Center’s Media Impact Project in collaboration with Define American, a nonprofit media and culture organization, to investigate two research questions: 1. How are immigrants and immigration issues depicted on entertainment television? 2. How do these depictions compare with the reality of the immigrant experience?… More
Read this preliminary work from Kathleen Hall Jamieson, delivered in March 2018 for her Ev Rogers Award Colloquium, which evolved into her incendiary new book, “Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President—What We Don’t, Can’t, and Do Know.” UPDATES: Dr. Jamieson discusses her new book with the… More
For the last three years, journalists, producers, designers and engineers from FRONTLINE and Emblematic Group have worked together to produce two VR experiences that each deploy the power of fully immersive, room-scale VR in the service of deeply reported narrative journalism. As part of the initiative, the Lear Center’s Media Impact Project conducted testing exploring… More
The latest Real to Reel newsletter from Hollywood, Health & Society includes articles on the rural maternity care crisis; how technology is taking care of aging parents; voices of patients with rheumatoid arthritis; how abortion doulas help at a difficult time; and how a saliva test could be a critical weapon in… More
Joe Saltzman and his IJPC team expand their Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture project reach with their latest research and report on “The Image of The Journalist in Silent Films, Part One: 1890-1919,” available in the current IJPC Journal.
INVESTIGATING RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN WOMEN’S NEWS PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION Women are underrepresented in newsrooms and are less likely to read political and international news, but when a newsroom closes the gender gap, does it result in a higher share of women in their audience? Newspaper Engagement Strategist Alyssa Zeisler investigates… More
Producers of the EPIX series America Divided conducted an innovative engagement campaign to spur action against social injustice and invited the Lear Center’s Media Impact Project to determine if their documentary series inspired real social change. Spoiler alert: It did! This report outlines key strategies to success and areas of… More
The Great ShakeOut, the largest earthquake preparedness drill in the history of the United States, first took place in 2008 and offered the Lear Center a chance to study and assess how people participated and whether audience segments shared behavioral patterns. Our online survey revealed four clusters of participants: Minimal, Basic… More