Political communication as a field draws far more heavily on the postwar period than from Reconstruction, and this week Daniel Kreiss started an informal Twitter discussion about why.
He offered the example of The Good Citizen, in which Reconstruction is only mentioned once in the book’s history of voting and political behavior. “I am not picking on this book, this entire historical period is generally absent from my field. It is absent in most accounts of the press and American democracy. It is missing from most of the signature books on political communication in the U.S,” he noted.
Neil Stenhouse provided a personal example, sharing that upon though he arrived in the U.S. as a Ph.D. student in 2011, it wasn’t until 2015 that he learned there was a Reconstruction period and its importance.
Kreiss recommended Journalism and Jim Crow as an example of important work addressing this gap, and Nathan Kalmoe added several recommendations of his own. He concluded that he is “guilty as well,” and described the need to revisit normative commitments and analytic approaches in the field.
Publications and appearances
“If you're interested in understanding how others might be looking at a topic or thinking about a topic, consider how your search terms are really driving the information that you're going to get." Francesca Tripodi spoke to Stats + Stories about Wikipedia, search engine results, filter bubbles, and more.
“We analyze ‘cancelation’ on YouTube as a ritualistic practice in which structural tensions are publicly negotiated and performed, even as accountability itself remains largely elusive.” Affiliate Becca Lewis’s article on cancel culture and online accountability practices on YouTube is out now.
“It supersedes even the most powerful status cultures in all of neoliberal capitalism: wealth and fame,” MSNBC quoted Tressie McMillan Cottom’s observation from Thick in an article discussing Brittney Griner and the state of powerlessness Black women are relegated to.
“With abortion, guns, democratic participation at the forefront of voters’ minds, platforms will face intense challenges in moderating speech. It’s likely that neither side will be satisfied by the decisions platforms make.” Affiliate Matt Perault spoke to the New York Times about the fight for truth along partisan lines.
“Marwick identifies the catalytic role played by ‘highly followed network node[s].’ Whether they are right-wing YouTubers accusing liberals of racism or makeup influencers accusing each other of gaslighting, they help to focus a community’s diffuse attention on a specific target and to crystalize its condemnation around specific perceived moral violations.” James Grimmelmann wrote a review of Alice Marwick’s morally motivated networked harassment.
“The main person who’s made this argument, among others, is Daniel Kreiss at UNC. He’s essentially making the argument that talking about polarization in a content neutral sense ignores the very important question of who has polarized against who and what people are polarized over.” Daniel Kreiss’s article on polarization and the US’s deeply-rooted inequities was referenced by Quinta Jurecic in an episode of The Lawfare Podcast.
“It would help to explain why they’re establishing this new country in a sense, because the previous government were Nazis, therefore they had to be replaced.” Affiliate Larissa Doroshenko spoke to the New York Times about the Russian media spreading false claims about Ukrainian Nazis.
👏
Congratulations to graduate affiliate Daniel Johnson, whose Slate article on the military’s suicide prevention efforts influenced an amendment in this year’s defense authorization bill. The amendment instructs the DoD to check the status of their suicide prevention sites and update them at least once per year.
Congratulations to Kathy Forde for being nominated as a 2022 Tankard Book Award Finalist for Journalism and Jim Crow: White Supremacy and the Black Struggle for a New America. Last fall, we were able to discuss the book with her.
Coming soon
July 15: Reviews for associate editors for Journal of Communication begin. The call for nominations is open!
July 18: The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) will be hosting its first Growing Voters learning series event featuring a panel of media leaders.
August 1: Submissions for the Labor Tech Book and Graduate Student Paper Awards are due.
August 15: Starling Lab Journalism Fellowship application deadline.
The Night School Bar is still offering arts & humanities classes, writing workshops, reading groups, and more this summer.
Rest of Web
Our friends at NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics (CSMaP) put out an article on big tech and election integrity efforts.
A new research tool: YouTube is opening up its API to researchers.
The People Lab at Harvard is hiring for 3 positions!