CITAP Welcomes Meredith Clark

This week we are celebrating Meredith Clark joining CITAP as a Principal Investigator and recognizing her research excellence, learning why Tressie loves the D.M.V., and featuring a press round-up.

🎉 Welcoming Meredith Clark 🎉

We are excited to announce that Dr. Meredith Clark, a renowned scholar of digital communication and media studies, is joining CITAP as a Principal Investigator, bringing her extensive expertise and innovative research to our team.

Dr. Clark is coming to UNC from Northeastern University, where she was an Associate Professor and the Founding Director of the Center for Communication, Media Innovation & Social Change. She will join the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media as the Associate Professor of Race and Political Communication. Dr. Clark earned her Ph.D. from UNC in 2014, making her return to Carolina especially welcome. 

Dr. Clark’s work will bring invaluable insights into digital media's role in shaping public discourse and mobilizing social justice movements, further enriching our understanding of technology's impact on democracy. CITAP eagerly anticipates the fresh perspectives and expertise Dr. Clark will contribute to our ongoing research initiatives. 

Daniel Kreiss, CITAP Principal Investigator and Hussman Professor, remarked, “We are thrilled to welcome the brilliant Meredith Clark back to Carolina! Clark’s work on Black Twitter, journalism, and Black information infrastructures will beautifully complement CITAP’s team of critical social scientists working on global issues at the intersection of media and democracy.” 

As Daniel noted, Dr. Clark’s work in the field of Black Twitter perfectly aligns with CITAP’s focus on issues at the center of media and democracy. Meredith’s forthcoming book “We Tried to Tell Y’all: Black Twitter and the Rise of Digital Counternarratives” (Oxford University Press) is the “first book about how Black Twitter users carved out a vital space for fast-paced, incisive commentary on Black life in America not found in the mainstream press.”  

Francesca Tripodi, CITAP Principal Investigator and Associate Professor at SILS, expressed her excitement for Meredith joining the team, noting that her addition “strengthens our community commitment to centering people and power.” 

Shannon McGregor, CITAP Principal Investigator and Associate Professor at Hussman, emphasized Dr. Clark’s foundational work on the changing public sphere and U.S. journalism focused on reparative journalism. “Reparative journalism calls upon journalists to account for their structural positions and identities and make editorial choices that center Black women and intersections of race, gender identity, class, and ability as a path toward the truly pluralistic, multiracial and multiethnic journalism that democracy needs.” 

Reflecting on Dr. Clark’s work in the field of reparative journalism and beyond, Shannon concluded, “I could not be more excited and honored to welcome Dr. Meredith Clark to CITAP; Dr. Clark’s research aligns with and expands CITAP’s focus on people, power, and precedent to clarify the role of media and technology in political and social life.” 

We look forward to the impactful contributions Dr. Meredith Clark will bring to CITAP and the broader UNC community. Her innovative research aligns perfectly with our mission to investigate and address crucial issues related to media influence and democratic processes. Join us in welcoming Dr. Clark to the CITAP team!

The D.M.V.: A Great Equalizer 

There are few sentences as universally dreaded as “I have to go to the D.M.V.”. Why is that? Tressie McMillan Cottom insightfully breaks down why this is not simply a matter of the D.M.V. providing a poor service, but rather that fact that no one can opt out of this service experience; the D.M.V. symbolizes a democratic space where everyone faces the same inconveniences, regardless of status. 

The D.M.V. is so hated because it does not make status distinctions. You can’t pay to separate yourself from the masses. Everyone has to search the same cumbersome websites for the right forms. You have to compete for an appointment or show up early, whether you have a high net worth or a negative bank balance. Best of all, everybody has to wait her turn. It is inconvenient, but everyone is equally inconvenienced.

Not only is the inability to get a fast pass for the D.M.V. an equalizer that causes frustration for some, but also serving as a “basic unit of democracy” and “invisible infrastructure”, if all is running smoothly, the D.M.V. shouldn’t be noticed; it is noticed and disliked when it doesn’t work as it is supposed to. Due to chronic underfunding, those deficiencies are often made visible. 

Finally, Tressie notes that,

Hating on the D.M.V. is also socially acceptable because of who often works at the D.M.V. Women and people of color disproportionately work in the public sector. The D.M.V. is one of the few places where privileged people — especially privileged white people — will ever encounter a woman of color with unquestionable authority.

Publications and Appearances 

President Biden ceased running for re-election, but the internet has not stopped running wild with new theories, as discussed by NBC News. Shortly after Biden’s withdrawal from the race, many called for ‘proof of life’ from Biden on X; the number of posts discussing Biden dying or experiencing a medical emergency spiked from 29,000 on Sunday to 176,000 on Tuesday. 

Alice Marwick spoke with author David Ingram, noting, “X is hardly a neutral platform. Elon Musk clearly has a deep, vested interest in a Trump victory in the 2024 election, and he’s using what’s at his disposal to do so, which is the social media platform that he controls.” 

The misinformation and theorizing don’t stop with President Biden, as Ella Lee and Sarakshi Rai discuss for The Hill. VP Harris’ relationship with the former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown three decades ago has been used against her in the past and continues to be brought up in current discussions. 

Alice spoke with Lee and Rai about the suggestion that Harris used sexual favors to ‘get ahead’, saying:

That has been leveraged against probably almost every single female politician — ever, anywhere. That’s not new, but because these are so timeworn — because these are so comfortable, these are tropes that people are familiar with — they can be very sticky, and as a result, it’s very easy to tie them into more nefarious or conspiratorial things.

Tressie McMillan Cottom appeared on the Forever35 podcast episode, “What a Tangled Sociocultural Web We Weave with Tressie McMillan Cottom”.  Tressie and hosts Dori Shaffer and Elise Hugh discuss a variety of topics, starting with personal boundaries and self-care practices. The conversation also touches on the cultural impact of the ozempic phenomenon, with Tressie providing her perspective on the societal fixation on body image and beauty standards. The hosts and Tressie delve into the complex dynamics of how beauty rituals are perceived and valued, and the implications of these perceptions on women's lives.  

When asked about how Tressie is coping with the current political and cultural context, Tressie answered: 

I've got a strict time limit on how much I can consume every day. I mean, we go from consuming mass death and political disenfranchisement to just straight up authoritarianism in a matter of days... We just are not built to consume all of this. I don't think you are prepared or capable of processing all of the horrible things that human beings do to each other all across a great, big, wide world... And I don't think this is a real good solution, because probably what we need is better, higher quality filtering of information to help us decide what we need to know versus what people want to put before us... I think a lot of what we do and call now “information”—making an informed public—is really about manipulating how people feel politically. Real information, I think, would tell you what stuff means. You can see a headline about climate change, but it doesn't tell you what you're supposed to do... I think we just feel chronically helpless. That's politically convenient, but really bad for human beings. Until we figure out a way to do more high-quality information, we have to do it for ourselves, we’ve got to do it at the individual level, which is always just a sign of failure.

The ACLU sent 300 high school students to Capitol Hill to lobby against KOSA a few weeks back with concerns about censoring conversation—especially among marginalized groups. Alice Marwick spoke with the New York Times about the Kids Online Safety Act, saying, “This bill has flown under the radar as a great way to protect kids online, and everyone wants that, but people are also realizing the bill is more like a wolf in sheep’s clothing and could have huge implications for speech.”

For more information on KOSA and other legislation, check out the Marwick co-authored “Child Online Safety Legislation: A Primer”.