By Joe Arney

If you鈥檝e taken a holiday from the news after Election Day, you鈥檙e not alone鈥攁n Associated Press poll released late last year found about two-thirds of U.S. adults were limiting their consumption of political and government news.

Experts from the 精品SM在线影片 said the troubling trend is probably driven by a combination of exhaustion and how the media covered the presidential and down-ballot campaigns.

鈥淓ven if you feel that, from a civic standpoint, you need to be more engaged, you can鈥檛 live your whole life in that hyper-excited space all of the time,鈥� said Elizabeth Skewes, an associate professor of journalism at the College of Media, Communication and Information. 鈥淚 think we need to breathe again. Yes, the next Trump presidency will affect our daily lives鈥攂ut breathlessly reading every story doesn鈥檛 help.鈥�

That wasn鈥檛 the tack many Americans took in Donald Trump鈥檚 first term. In his campaign and through the early years of his presidency, the 鈥淭rump bump鈥� in ratings and circulation gave new life to legacy media outlets. But that faded as his presidency waned, and hasn鈥檛 recovered even as he prepares to be inaugurated.

鈥淔irst of all, we鈥檝e had nine years of this coverage, and it鈥檚 never stopped,鈥� Skewes said. 鈥淭hen, we鈥檝e been through COVID, and we鈥檙e exhausted. I think people will eventually re-engage with the news, but I expect it will be at a lower level.鈥�

Reverting to an established pattern

That鈥檚 something Skewes, a former staff and freelance reporter, knows quite a bit about: Some of her earliest research looked at how the media covered U.S. presidential campaigns, especially since no one鈥攖he public, the candidates, even the reporters鈥攍iked it.

Sound familiar?

鈥淔or quite a few election cycles, we鈥檝e heard about how journalism should do this better,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut the media tend to revert to pattern鈥攖o covering whatever the outrageous thing of the day is, and the legacy media will never be able to do that as well as things like social media or podcasts, because they have less responsibility to be factually correct.鈥�

To survive, news organizations should focus on building audience, Skewes said, instead of chasing chaos. They can do that not by focusing on being first, but on providing accuracy, context and clarity in an age of confusion.

In other words, not by breaking the news, but by putting it back together.

鈥淲e need to keep fact checking, but also cover all the other stuff鈥攖hose governance stories, where quiet decisions have a huge impact on our lives鈥攊nstead of just the latest thing Trump said that is too weird to believe, like trying to buy Greenland,鈥� she said. 鈥淚nstead of letting that grab the headlines, we need serious outlets to look behind the scenes and ask what鈥檚 happening while we鈥檙e distracted with the latest unbelievable thing Trump says.鈥�

For Mike McDevitt, a professor of journalism at CMCI, everyone has an obligation to follow the news on a regular basis鈥攖hough, he said, 鈥淚 sense it鈥檚 healthy for people to tune out鈥� a polarizing figure like Trump.

鈥淏ut a related interpretation to what鈥檚 happening is that if people have internalized politics as entertainment, then it鈥檚 understandable if they tune out for more appealing types of entertainment,鈥� said McDevitt, a former editorial writer and reporter.

The long game of retraining readers

Getting consumers to understand that, though, is a long game, Skewes said鈥攐ne that will play out against the deeper-pocketed tech industry and the social media giants.

 鈥淲e need serious outlets to look behind the scenes and ask what鈥檚 happening while we鈥檙e distracted with the latest unbelievable thing Trump says.鈥�

Elizabeth Skewes, associate professor, journalism

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how we get to the point where most of the public realizes, 鈥業鈥檓 just getting stuff that is basically Twinkies for the brain, and I need to find more reliable places to get news, because accurate information matters,鈥欌�� she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a long play. We鈥檝e got to retrain people to understand the difference between news and content.鈥�

It鈥檚 a long game, but we鈥檒l have to find answers quickly, because the economics of the news business continue to flounder. In 2024, 130 newspapers closed their doors, according to the Local News Initiative from Northwestern University. That鈥檚 more than two newspapers disappearing each week.

And when reporters are no longer there to ask probing questions and search for the truth鈥攚ell, it puts a new spin on a bad news day.

鈥淲hen people aren鈥檛 paying attention to the media, the media aren鈥檛 paying attention to the thing鈥攁nd that鈥檚 when you see real changes to federal, state and local policy that dramatically change things,鈥� she said. 鈥淲ithout that accountability, it鈥檚 easier to do the wrong thing.鈥�

For all those warning lights, Skewes is hopeful that the longer-term future will be less chaotic and more civil than she expects to see in the next four years.

鈥淚 love politics鈥擨 covered it, grew up with it鈥攁nd I鈥檓 more hesitant now to even say something offbeat the political world, because I don鈥檛 know how other people are going to respond,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I think most Americans are tired of everything being so fraught. I really do believe that, eventually, things will calm down.鈥�

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By Joe Arney

ABC News absorbed a good deal of flak鈥攅specially from the media鈥攆or quickly settling a defamation lawsuit brought against the network by Donald Trump. But an expert at the 精品SM在线影片鈥檚 College of Media, Communication and Information said it may be a case of playing the long game at a time when moneyed interests are scrambling to undo protections for journalists and First Amendment rights in general.

鈥淭hese types of lawsuits, where you鈥檙e looking for any possible way to attack the media鈥攊f the Supreme Court chooses to take on something like this, you could see 60-year-old precedents be overturned,鈥� said Angelica Kalika (PhDJour鈥�19), an assistant teaching professor of journalism at CMCI. 鈥淭his could fundamentally change how everyone does business, as well as the types of statements we鈥檙e allowed to publish and the types of stories we鈥檙e allowed to pursue.鈥�

The precedent Kalika is referring to, of course, is the 1964 landmark New York Times v. Sullivan decision, which set a high bar for public figures filing defamation lawsuits. In these cases, plaintiffs must prove 鈥渁ctual malice鈥� on behalf of the media. So, a news organization must have made a knowingly false defamatory statement, or make such a statement with reckless disregard of whether it is false.

鈥淲e have billionaires and well-resourced organizations and groups bringing these kinds of libel cases against the press whenever they can,鈥� she said, including Bollea v. Gawker, the case brought by pro wrestler Hulk Hogan over a sex tape partially published by Gawker Media. The case, which was partly financed by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, led to Gawker鈥檚 bankruptcy.

鈥淕oing to court involves blood, sweat and tears, and it costs a lot of money,鈥� Kalika said. 鈥淎nd with billionaires behind some of these very notable libel cases, there may be a sense that, for ABC, you might weaken future libel defenses by giving higher courts more opportunities to get involved.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the wild west, in terms of what is going to happen to speech protection in the next few years.鈥�

Course updates in real time

Kalika, who has worked as an independent journalist in addition to her academic career, principally studies alternative media鈥攅verything from hyperlocal organizations like the former Colorado Independent, a digital publication that鈥檚 now part of the Colorado News Collaborative, to how outlets like TMZ navigate legal and ethical boundaries in producing celebrity journalism.

She also teaches a class, Media Law and Ethics, that is getting fresh updates in the current political climate.

鈥淣ow, everyone becomes a broadcaster when they go online鈥攜ou鈥檙e not just liable as part of an organization,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o you need to be a mini legal scholar, essentially, to consistently keep up with your state and local laws. We can鈥檛 go into this thinking legal departments have our back, because a lot of news organizations are getting smaller, and may not have the amount of legal support they need鈥攅specially when so much is changing, and will continue to change.鈥�

 鈥淢ore than ever, we need our press to be that Fourth Estate, to give a voice to the voiceless, and to protect not only the institution, but the concept of free speech in this country.鈥�

Angelica Kalika, assistant teaching professor, journalism

Why Disney settled

Though she is not involved in the specifics of the ABC News case, Kalika has some ideas around why it settled, beyond the potential disruption to journalism that a case moving through higher courts might trigger.

鈥淔irst off, we shouldn鈥檛 be saying ABC鈥攚e should be saying Disney, because that鈥檚 who owns it,鈥� said Kalika, who interned for the company鈥檚 scripted division as a college student. 鈥淐orporations will always act in their best interest, and maybe they have a long-term agenda to not start any trouble with the incoming president,鈥� especially when Disney fought a protracted battle with Florida Republicans over the so-called 鈥淒on鈥檛 Say Gay鈥� bill.

Kalika also said Disney鈥檚 lawyers may have believed Trump鈥檚 team could prove actual malice, based on the language George Stephanopoulos used on the air. Stephanopoulos did not use the exact terms set by the jury, misrepresenting the court鈥檚 findings鈥攁n error that was not corrected in real time.

Whatever the reasoning, the effect on press freedoms is likely to be chilling, especially for the smaller, nonprofit or independent outlet Kalika closely studies. She said it鈥檚 crucial that large and well-resourced nonprofits and publications like The New York Times continue to fight to establish, and maintain, press freedoms, because 鈥渢hat protects everyone鈥檚 right to free speech. I think that is something we need to always hope, that those who have the means to fight do so.鈥�

鈥淎 movement is watching you very closely to see where and how you will trip up,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a movement of saying, your voice doesn鈥檛 matter, your critique of institutional power doesn鈥檛 matter, and we鈥檙e going to find a way to eliminate your voice. We have to be better at what we do, and smarter and more vigilant. More than ever, we need our press to be that Fourth Estate, to give a voice to the voiceless, and to protect not only the institution, but the concept of free speech in this country.鈥�

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By Joe Arney

If you get your headlines from NewsHour or stream Fresh Air on your ride to work, you have a little-known Colorado experiment to thank.

In the 1930s, the Rocky Mountain Radio Council wanted to reach every student working in mountain mines, to ensure they received the same public education opportunities as in Denver. The group hit on program transcriptions that could be relayed over the air鈥攂asically, pressing shellac records鈥攕o that a student working in remote Golconda Mine, in Hinsdale County, benefited from the same curriculum as his peers in Denver.

That local consortium eventually became the Public Broadcasting Service. And the focus on public education that gave it its start continues to differentiate the mission of public news networks.

鈥淚t was just by chance that I moved out here, and so I loved finding out that the inception moment for all noncommercial media was actually the mining communities,鈥� said Josh Shepperd, an associate professor of media studies at the 精品SM在线影片鈥檚 College of Media, Communication and Information.

Last year, Shepperd published . It鈥檚 notable as the first academic attempt to present communication studies and public broadcasting as historically connected enterprises, and it comes at a time when criticism of the media鈥攅specially related to politics鈥攊s running especially hot. Shadow has since from the Broadcast Education Association and has been a finalist or runner up for prizes from four other organizations, including the American Journalism Historians Association and Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Not necessarily better鈥攂ut different

鈥淭his book isn鈥檛 about saying one mode of media is automatically better, or that public media is perfect or a corrective to commercial media,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I do think public media is different because of its mission to provide a forum for every kind of voice.鈥�

  鈥淓veryone keeps saying public media is too state based, but commercial media seems to be much more of a mouthpiece for politicians right now.鈥�
Josh Shepperd, associate professor, media studies

That鈥檚 different from most commercial media, 鈥渨here the ethics are really tertiary to how the industry works. If there鈥檚 an audience for it, it鈥檚 good,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he idea that there is a necessity for every voice to be placed equally within a community is very important, even if I鈥檓 not sure that public media is always successful.鈥�

In some countries, 鈥減ublic media鈥� raises the specter of propaganda, like TASS or Xinhua. In the United States, PBS is insulated from such a threat, since affiliate stations don鈥檛 receive direct funding from the government.

鈥淭hat doesn鈥檛 mean they aren鈥檛 political, because they are,鈥� Shepperd said. But, he said, an endless news cycle revolving around politics and partisanship has warped the relationship between government and independent media: 鈥淓veryone keeps saying public media is too state based, but commercial media seems to be much more of a mouthpiece for politicians right now.鈥�  

Spend a few minutes watching Fox News or MSNBC and you won鈥檛 disagree. For Shepperd, it鈥檚 another effect of a polarized media market 鈥渨here people think through the abstractions of their gatekeepers鈥� framing, instead of just looking at what鈥檚 in front of them in their own lives,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e allow issues of public interest to become obscured by demographic affiliations as we increasingly become categories and brands instead of people.鈥�

How we got to that point is part of Shepperd鈥檚 next project, which will examine the history of decision-making at media industries to better understand the mechanisms radio, television and digital players use to make tough calls about programming and advertising.

It鈥檚 a different thrust, but one that still hearkens back to his interest in uncovering and preserving the history of communication studies, which Shepperd called the only discipline that hasn鈥檛 completely traced its own history.

An accidental pathway

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 have a discipline that doesn鈥檛 know why it exists,鈥� he said. 鈥淯nderstanding that history gives us a sense of why we ask and answer the questions the way that we do, and helps us answer questions about the ethics of the discipline.鈥�

Shepperd got into this work almost by accident. He was studying theories around public life and civil society when a professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison, where he earned his PhD, inspired him to pursue his nascent interest in public broadcasting.

鈥淪he told me it was good to think about these ideas, but that you could actually have evidence, too,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n other words, the idea that how it works is just as fair of a question as how it should work.鈥�

He was able to put Wisconsin鈥檚 extensive archives to work for his thesis, which paved the way for the book project. Shepperd is now co-writing the official history of NPR and PBS for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

It鈥檚 fitting work, as before Shepperd dove into this subject in earnest, 鈥渘o one in the history of film and media studies or communication studies had ever asked where public media came from in scholarship,鈥� he said. Commercial media, by contrast, has been widely examined by experts and thought leaders, 鈥渁nd the idea that we wouldn't apply the same kind of investigation to the public system, I think, is an ideological issue that we need to face within communications research.鈥�

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By Joe Arney

We鈥檙e going about environmental storytelling all wrong. 

When Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962, it became a rallying point for the nascent environmental movement鈥攏ot because it was a scientific book (though it is), but because of its haunting opening pages that described a town where the birds and bees had vanished, fish were gone, fruit wouldn鈥檛 blossom, and disease ran rampant.

That scene moved people to ban pesticides and rethink humanity鈥檚 role in the larger environment. But, Phaedra C. Pezzullo said, until we figure out how to tell stories about today鈥檚 environmental crises鈥攍ike plastic pollution and climate change鈥攁ll we have are data that, alone, fail to move people to action.

鈥淲hat many people are arguing is that the climate crisis is a crisis of imagination and of communication,鈥� said Pezzullo, a professor of communication and media studies at the 精品SM在线影片鈥檚 College of Media, Communication and Information. 鈥淭he idea is, we struggle to grapple with what is the climate鈥擨 can鈥檛 touch it, I can鈥檛 see it鈥攕o how do we tell stories that empower people, instead of only getting caught up in the data?鈥�

Interdisciplinary insights

Pezzullo鈥檚 interdisciplinary approach to the problem of plastics鈥攖he science of microplastics permeating the human body and the way of explaining that crisis in a way that inspires people to demand action鈥攈as helped her see a need for a fresh approach to how we talk about such complex problems. 

It鈥檚 partly what moved her to start a podcast series, , and her most recent book, , which was published last year. The book has generated significant attention as the media struggles to cover the plastics problem; since the summer, it has won three significant prizes from the National Communication Association: a Diamond Anniversary Book Award, the James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Rhetoric and Public Address and, significantly, the Tarla Rai Peterson Book Award in Environmental Communication, named for a prolific scholar who Pezzullo met years ago at a conference. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 an honor to have this book recognized and affirmed by my colleagues with expertise in environmental studies, rhetoric, and across the entire field of communication,鈥� Pezzullo said.

In some ways, Beyond Straw Men and Pezzullo鈥檚 search for impactful storytelling is the kind of scholarly work that鈥檚 uniquely possible at a place like CMCI. The college was created to address the complex challenges of today鈥檚 interconnected world, which require interdisciplinary perspectives to effectively engage. 

It鈥檚 an approach that resonates with partners outside the university. In her role as director of 精品SM在线影片鈥檚 graduate certificate in environmental justice, Pezzullo has been working with Colorado鈥檚 Department of Public Health and Environment to help update its quantitative database of communities most affected by environmental damage. Undergraduates in a new class she鈥檚 teaching, Advanced Topics in Storytelling, Culture and Climate Justice, are updating story maps to help the state assess how the message it鈥檚 spreading about climate impacts local communities. 

At CMCI, expertise in 鈥榟ow to move people鈥�

鈥淭hese stories need to be assessed so they can figure out if they are empowering residents,鈥� she said. 鈥淎re they rich enough, compelling enough, moving enough? Or did we lean too hard on data that maybe is too dense for this audience? 

鈥淎nd that鈥檚 why the state would love more partnerships with people in CMCI who can help them build capacity for the storytelling component, because they spend so much of their own time in the weeds. There鈥檚 a thirst for research that understands the climate science, but also brings to the conversation an appreciation for how to think about audiences, context and how to move people.鈥� 

Part of that is finding ways to avoid confining stories about topics like pollution and climate to negative headlines, disaster movies, dystopian fiction and the like.  

鈥淲e鈥檙e getting to the point with climate justice where you have to change attitudes, beliefs and the culture, and that means you need a range of stories鈥攊ncluding comedies, as my colleagues I work with across campus have shown. We have to use a whole range of human emotions to change a culture.鈥� 

It also means those stories need broad appeal, so they aren鈥檛 just preaching to the converted. 

  鈥淭here鈥檚 a thirst for research that understands the climate science, but also brings to the conversation an appreciation for how to think about audiences, context and how to move people.鈥�
Phaedra C. Pezzullo, professor, communication and media studies

鈥淭he argument of folks who are working on climate storytelling in the industry is any film or media content created for the present or the future that does not have climate change as part of its backdrop should be considered fiction, because it is a part of life,鈥� she said.

The desperation to find the right storytelling techniques for plastics is easy to see in the endless drumbeat of bad news about plastics clogging rivers, causing floods; being burned, destroying air quality; and invading our drinking water, food supply and bodies.  But like all good stories featuring hardship, this one has a protagonist we can easily root for. 

鈥淲hat I鈥檓 interested in right now is the idea of repair,鈥� Pezzullo said. By that, she means material repair鈥攊n May, Colorado passed its third right to repair law, empowering consumers to fix, not flush, things like broken phones鈥攂ut also repairing relationships, especially in the case of well-meaning partnerships where, say, an NGO promised a solution to a plastic problem in the global south that failed. 

鈥淗ow do we have accountability, but also find a way to forgive people for mistakes?鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very challenging right now to admit that people have made mistakes, and then鈥攊f they鈥檙e willing to do the work or willing to do the repair work, forgive them.

鈥淎nd, of course, how do we repair the earth? That鈥檚 the most important question to me.鈥� 

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By Joe Arney

Does 鈥渨oke鈥� make you broke? A new book from Tim Kuhn serves as a reminder that, while we might think of corporations as single-minded entities, they are in fact messy and complex鈥攁nd that messiness often is where innovation takes place. 

鈥淐orporations often deploy purpose to create order, to fight complexity, because we typically think of a good organization as being orderly,鈥� said Kuhn, a professor of communication at the 精品SM在线影片鈥檚 College of Media, Communication and Information. 

鈥淧urpose tends to be seen as this device that produces similarity, produces unity, produces a setting or a culture where everybody is on the same page. And that is a fantasy.鈥�

So, when you see companies posting about pride or gun control, it doesn鈥檛 mean they鈥檝e suddenly been taken over by 鈥渨oke鈥� warriors. Rather, it鈥檚 evidence of different perspectives and new avenues of thought being pursued within a larger organization. Those can produce more humane workplaces and foster innovation鈥攚hich, together, can be healthy for the bottom line, Kuhn said in the book, .

Corporate purpose, Kuhn said, has often been framed as either producing profits or following principles. 鈥淪ome versions of purpose can be a claim for morality, for your business to stand for more than shareholder maximization,鈥� he said. 

But believing corporations are only a single thing means 鈥渨e鈥檙e missing an opportunity to understand their complexity and how they effectively serve a wide variety of purposes,鈥� he said. 鈥淪aying that corporations just want profits, full stop, is perhaps way too simple, and does an injustice to both businesses and the good people who work in them.鈥�

鈥楧ysfunction鈥� as a business driver

For businesses to pursue both purpose and profit鈥攖o walk and chew gum at once鈥攊s a good thing, because being open to multiple outcomes can help companies develop new lines of business. Chasing the idea that an organization must choose a single form of value often creates the dysfunctions managers think they need to neutralize. 

  鈥淧urpose tends to be seen as this device that produces similarity, produces unity, produces a setting or a culture where everybody is on the same page. And that is a fantasy.鈥�
Tim Kuhn, professor, communication

By way of example, Kuhn鈥檚 book mentions Coinbase, which operates a cryptocurrency exchange platform. In 2020, as social tensions heated up from the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and a charged pre-election climate, CEO Brian Armstrong said there would be no political conversations permitted on workplace channels. 

鈥淎nd, as you can imagine, employees revolted,鈥� Kuhn said. 鈥淓mployees said, 鈥楾his company is about shaking up the way the world works. Politics is core to who we are.鈥欌�� 

Coinbase offered severance to employees who left over the policy, and while the business was private at the time, making it hard to evaluate impact, Kuhn said this was an opportunity lost. 

鈥淲hat if you thought of strategy not as an attempt to create unity and a simple trajectory for your firm?鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat if you thought of strategy as developing from the many possibilities for our future鈥攖he many voices that made up the organization? What new practices, what appeals to new audiences, might have emerged from that?鈥�

Leaders, Kuhn said, 鈥渟hould be less fearful of conversations that stray from our predetermined purpose or strategy, and instead foster conversations that develop emergent, perhaps unanticipated, practices that could be considered part of our complex organization.鈥�

Exit strategies

That sort of adaptability is crucial for corporations charged with innovating amid change and competition. Unfortunately, they don鈥檛 always get there. As part of his research, Kuhn observed a high-tech incubator in action. While the entrepreneurs housed there had big ideas about disruption, the accelerator鈥檚 model was laser-focused on exit strategies for the startups, as that鈥檚 where their money came from. 

鈥淭hat makes sense, in that we often think that鈥檚 the only way corporations think about value,鈥� Kuhn said. 鈥淏ut as I spoke with many of these startups, they were interested in a variety of other forms of value. Many wanted to fight the corporate machine, were really interested in civic values or just wanted to do something technologically cool, whether it paid off or not.鈥� 

Instead, he said, they were pushed to sell out in ways that didn鈥檛 always make sense for the long-term viability of their companies, 鈥渁nd it was telling for me that there was a corporation鈥攖he accelerator鈥� that was doing the pushing鈥攁 form of communicative capitalism that was making these nascent firms into something they didn鈥檛 want or need to be.鈥�

The book is a collection of theoretical deep dives into how communication, purpose and authority intersect, but there are plenty of practical takeaways for leaders looking for an edge in innovation.

鈥淥rganizations are these conglomerations of humans, practices, places, things, passions, times, histories and so on,鈥� Kuhn said. 鈥淚f managers think their proclamations will directly produce the outcomes they want, they are probably not long for their positions. Because nothing is that simple.鈥�

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By Joe Arney
Photos by Arielle Wiedenbeck

In sports, it鈥檚 often said, offense wins games, but defense wins championships. 
  
For Cody Walizer, when it comes to politics, that鈥檚 inverted鈥攇ood defense can win a debate, but it鈥檚 offense that wins elections. And that鈥檚 unusual because of how little time candidates spend on offense when they are sparring onstage. 

鈥淲hen someone has an opportunity to build, to go on the offense, but choose to play defense, that鈥檚 a bad sign for their position,鈥� Walizer, an assistant teaching professor of communication in the College of Media, Communication and Information, said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also a sign maybe they鈥檙e trying to play these political games, as opposed to being a good debater.鈥� 

Walizer was one of nearly a dozen panelists speaking at a voter engagement fair put on by CMCI, CU Student Government and the Office of the Chancellor, in association with 精品SM在线影片鈥檚 Conference on World Affairs. About 150 students attended on Tuesday night to ask questions about politics and elections, register to vote, and learn how to become involved in local elections. 

Walizer was invited to participate because of his expertise in debate. He captained his high school debate team and has extensive experience coaching debaters, and said, 鈥淚 can very firmly state that I have never seen a presidential or vice presidential debate that was a good debate.鈥� 

That鈥檚 because politicians rarely play offense, which Walizer described as constructing arguments and showing why your side is right. Instead, they play defense鈥攄econstructing arguments and saying why the other side is wrong. 

Three panels answered questions submitted by students ahead of time, which covered issues such as the role social media plays in political messaging, how ideology plays out with voters, and how students can involve themselves and help ensure electoral integrity. 

Not taking sides

Sprain studies democratic engagement, particularly how to  support the ways people come together to make decisions on public issues鈥攅nabling participation, designing better meetings or rethinking civic norms. When she has worked to help other groups structure their meetings more effectively, she found participants may assume more knowledge about a particular issue than they actually possess. 

鈥淭hey wanted to hear more about how this election would have consequences throughout their lives,鈥� Sprain said. 鈥淭hey were asking about how to make sense of politics, versus just taking sides on issues. That surprised me.鈥� 

Of nearly 200 student registrants, dozens submitted questions, 鈥渨hich is a proportion of interest you don鈥檛 typically see, especially when some people are registering for things like extra course credit.鈥� 

Some of the liveliest discussion concerned social media鈥檚 capacity for good and harm, through generative artificial intelligence, advertising and the like. Sandra Ristovska, associate professor of media studies, and Alex Siegel, associate professor of political science, said elections have always been shaped by new technologies. Siegel said the railroad and telegraph helped create a national audience for Abraham Lincoln by offering more timely coverage of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. 

  鈥淭hey were asking about how to make sense of politics, versus just taking sides on issues. That surprised me.鈥�
Leah Sprain, associate professor, communication

Bogus content isn鈥檛 new, Ristovska said, and recent research suggests we鈥檙e good at not letting it influence how we vote, but in India鈥檚 elections earlier this year, 鈥渄eepfakes did contribute to sexual harassment of women, the intimidation of journalists and the intimidation of human rights activists in the country,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e need to be paying more attention to those things.鈥� 

Michaele Ferguson, an associate professor of political science, talked about an essay she has students write at the start of her undergraduate course on modern ideologies. Each student describes his or her ideology; she consistently finds students support a mix of free-market economics and social justice issues, like reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights. 

That鈥檚 not a coalition you typically see in the United States, she said, as those issues are claimed, respectively, by the right and left of the spectrum. Ferguson said she鈥檚 intrigued by Vice President Kamala Harris鈥� attempt to signal support for both camps 鈥渁s a way to peel away voters who would otherwise sit out elections or vote Republican.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 really exciting to me to see her doing the very thing that my class exercise would tell you is the strategy to win an election in the United States.鈥�

Other presenters included Chuck Plunkett, director of CU News Corps; Toby Hopp, associate professor of advertising; Patrick Deneen, a visiting scholar at the university鈥檚 Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization; Molly Fitzpatrick (PolSci鈥�11), Boulder County clerk; and junior Grace Covney, a tri-executive with CU Student Government.   

Learning to lead through government

Tyler Rowan, another CUSG tri-executive and a junior studying international affairs, said he hoped the energy of the room translated into active participants in the election. 

He got into student government not for partisan reasons, he said, but because 鈥淚 wanted to make the most out of school and learn how to lead. Student government has taught me that鈥攊t鈥檚 taken a majority of my time, but I鈥檓 very passionate about it and it鈥檚 the best decision I ever made.鈥� 

鈥淭he emotional intelligence students need to have to be asking things about how do I engage in politics in a way that鈥檚 healthy, how do I have conversations with my roommates in a way that鈥檚 respectful鈥攖hose are not things I鈥檝e seen asked in a situation like this before,鈥� he said. 

In addition to being open to all 精品SM在线影片 students, the discussion was livestreamed to audiences at Colorado Mesa University, in Grand Junction, and Fort Lewis College, in Durango. It was followed by a live viewing of the vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz.

Lori Bergen, founding dean of CMCI, kicked off the event by encouraging students to seek out difficult conversations as a way to learn and grow. 

鈥淥n our campus, we really are in a place where difficult conversations can and should occur,鈥� Bergen said. 鈥淲hen we approach those with courage and curiosity and care and consistency, that鈥檚 when learning and growth and progress really happen.鈥�

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By Joe Arney
Illustration by Dana Heimes

Think your phone鈥檚 blowing up with spam text messages from candidates and campaigns?

Buckle up鈥攜ou ain鈥檛 seen nothing yet.

The Federal Election Commission鈥檚 for campaigns is Oct. 24. Expect a ton of texts as that date approaches, said Bridget Barrett, an assistant professor of advertising at the 精品SM在线影片鈥檚 College of Media, Communication and Information. 

鈥淭his has been an extremely contentious election season,鈥� said Barrett, who studies digital marketing and political communication. 鈥淐ampaigns are chasing every advantage right now, and as long as texting continues to work, they鈥檒l keep doing it.鈥� 

There鈥檚 no single way most people wind up on a list to receive campaign texts. Usually, she said, you gave money at some point, or you signed up for something without realizing that you were giving your number to a political organization. It might also be through a merchandise sale, or if you fill out an online poll.

鈥淭here are different national rules and state laws around list swapping among different companies and fundraising organizations, and many different data privacy laws at different levels鈥攂ut once you鈥檙e on a list, you鈥檙e likely to get texts from people you did not directly opt in with,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard because there are so many ways for your data to be collected and then shared.鈥� 

  鈥淐ampaigns are chasing every advantage right now, and as long as texting continues to work, they鈥檒l keep doing it.鈥�
Bridget Barrett, assistant professor, advertising

There are a few steps consumers can take to silence the annoying alerts. Replying STOP every time you get one of these messages will, eventually, cut down on the number of texts you get, 鈥渢hough it probably won鈥檛 stop them altogether,鈥� she said. 

Another step is to be discerning about giving out your information. 鈥淐onsider using services where you can create burner email addresses, and think twice before handing over your phone number,鈥� she said. 

Barrett also advised consumers to register their phones through the Federal Trade Commission鈥檚 Do Not Call registry, though candidates and campaigns are exempt from the protections it offers. Voters can also to remove their phone numbers; however, she said, that is unlikely to be a source for texts like these. 

Longer term, Barrett is watching the arms race between phones and campaigns鈥攅specially how political camps will respond as mobile service providers and handset manufacturers introduce better spam filters to protect user data. 

She鈥檚 also interested to see whether campaigns start limiting this kind of outreach, especially if they see it鈥檚 turning people off.

鈥淣o one is concerned about that right now, because they鈥檙e still seeing a return on their investment,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here might be a postmortem in the future to look at whether this is sustainable鈥攐n the right, we did see some burnout and a decrease in donations after the 2016 election鈥攂ut right now, the only concern is getting people elected.鈥� 

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By Joe Arney

How do you get that neighbor, relative or coworker to change their mind about abortion, gun control or immigration?

The associate professor of communication at the 精品SM在线影片鈥檚 College of Media, Communication and Information said our personal experiences should have taught us by now that those who don鈥檛 agree with us won鈥檛 be swayed by us correcting the information that鈥檚 led them to their beliefs. 

鈥淚f anything, it鈥檚 the opposite,鈥� Koschmann said. 鈥淲e live in a very information rich鈥攊f not gluttonous鈥攅nvironment, and more information does not necessarily make us change our minds. 鈥� Most of us don鈥檛 say, 鈥極h, thank you for correcting me on my assumptions about the world.鈥欌��

But that doesn鈥檛 mean we shouldn鈥檛 talk to each other, a theme Koschmann returned to during Monday鈥檚 Difficult Dialogues series hosted by the university鈥檚 Center for Humanities & the Arts. He was part of a panel examining political polarization and how to stay good neighbors at a time of deep division in the United States. 

鈥淚f you can鈥檛 talk about something, you can鈥檛 fix it,鈥� said Jennifer Ho, director of the center, in opening the discussion. 鈥淪o, how do we find a way forward鈥攈ow do we stay good neighbors, no matter what results happen in November or in January?鈥�

Polarization and the press

  鈥淚f we bring it back to experience, it can be a moment of sharing, rather than a moment of debating positions of things that are very personal to us鈥攚hich is very difficult.鈥�
Angie Chuang, associate professor, journalism

The panel also featured Angie Chuang, an associate professor of journalism at CMCI and a former journalist whose research looks at race and identity, especially as presented by the media.

It鈥檚 a problem that鈥檚 arguably gotten worse in the digital age, as the number of publications and platforms has mushroomed. Instead of the mid-19th century penny presses, clickbait proliferates through alternative news sites.

鈥淭he news media is not there to improve our national dialog or improve our nuanced understanding,鈥� Chuang said. 鈥淭here are individual journalists who are trying really hard, and there are organizations trying to fight this鈥攂ut as a marketplace, it is trying to get advertising money. Understand that, and you become a savvier media consumer.鈥�

Chuang and Koschmann were joined on the panel by Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett, as well as moderator Michaele Ferguson, an associate professor in the university鈥檚 department of political science.

If you鈥檝e tried to have conversations with people who don鈥檛 share your views, you know how difficult the proposition can be. Chuang said our social identities鈥攔ace, gender, sexuality, religion and others鈥攁re seen as essential to who we are, so when that becomes the topic, discussion quickly veers off course.

鈥淚f I were to say, 鈥楳ichelle, your views on the economy and foreign trade are just totally ignorant, and I can鈥檛 even understand why you think the way you do,鈥欌�� Chuang said to Ferguson, 鈥渋t comes off differently than if I say, 鈥楳ichelle your views on race are completely ignorant.鈥� 

鈥淚f I say, tell me your experience based on your identities, that is a different conversation than, 鈥榃hy is your position on policing or affirmative action the way it is?鈥� If we bring it back to experience, it can be a moment of sharing, rather than a moment of debating positions of things that are very personal to us鈥攚hich is very difficult.鈥� 

Defusing disagreements

It doesn鈥檛 always work, he said. Once, he sent a peer-reviewed paper to a resident to shine light on an issue, which she countered by sending a thesis proposal from a master鈥檚 student that she found online.

鈥淥n almost any topic, you can find something to support a position, any position, somewhere on the internet,鈥� Brockett said. Online, he said, 鈥渕any of us are accustomed to getting feedback loop, hearing the same viewpoints over and over again鈥攁nd then it becomes inconceivable to you how other people might think something different.鈥� 

The panelists agreed that those difficult conversations are worth having because when you find a moment of connection, it鈥檚 authentic and validating. Just don鈥檛 go in expecting to bring people around to your ideological corner. 

鈥淚f you are interested in being influential and persuasive in implementing change in your community, the most effective thing you can do is not explicitly try to change people鈥檚 minds,鈥� Koschmann said. 鈥淭ry to live a beautiful life of human flourishing, that is attractive and winsome, that draws people to you鈥攁nd then people say, 鈥榃hat鈥檚 going on, tell me more about your interests and why you鈥檙e happy.鈥欌�� 

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By Joe Arney

In Brian C. Keegan鈥檚 telling, the loss of tools like CrowdTangle and Pushshift鈥攚hich allow researchers to study user behavior and how information is shared on social media鈥攊s like particle physicists one day waking up to find out they can no longer access the Large Hadron Collider.

Earlier this month, Meta announced it was shutting down CrowdTangle, one of the most effective tools for understanding how Facebook and Instagram鈥檚 algorithms work and how disinformation is created and spread on the company鈥檚 platforms.

That鈥檚 a blow to researchers, watchdogs and journalists who will be less able to track how disinformation, hate speech and other poisons pollute the social media atmosphere鈥攂ut in the context of business decisions, there are strong financial and reputational benefits to obfuscating its operations. Not only is the platform sitting on mountains of data that can be licensed to companies building models to train generative artificial intelligence, Keegan said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 easy to imagine a world where Meta doesn鈥檛 want its name attached to a paper about how neo-Nazis are using Facebook groups to organize themselves.鈥�

The economic case for 鈥榩rivacy washing鈥�

  鈥淭he loss of these data tools imperils our ability to do that kind of scholarship and is ultimately a detriment to democracy and civic institutions.鈥�
Brian C. Keegan, assistant professor, information science

It鈥檚 becoming a more common story, as platforms that once made their data public are increasingly erecting paywalls, blocking APIs or cutting deals with A.I. companies. Often, those platforms mask their motivations behind what Keegan calls 鈥減rivacy washing,鈥� citing concerns about safeguarding user data in justifying the removal of key features for research labs, newsrooms and the public.

This particular example comes at an inauspicious time, with digital disinformation ratcheting up ahead of Election Day and more Americans than ever getting their news from social media.

鈥淭o address the challenges we鈥檙e up against, that are happening in real time, that we see journalists trying to grapple with, requires different models of publicly engaged scholarship, beyond just academic papers that take a year or two to publish,鈥� Keegan said. 鈥淭he loss of these data tools imperils our ability to do that kind of scholarship and is ultimately a detriment to democracy and civic institutions.鈥�

It鈥檚 not just the media or public at large that are affected. When these tools are taken offline, it hurts the quality of the online communities, as well. Keegan has volunteered as a moderator on Reddit, and said PushShift鈥攚hich Reddit limited access to beginning last summer鈥攚as vital to forming context about user behavior that could determine whether someone was having a bad day, or whether that person was truly a bad actor.

Classroom impact

That鈥檚 a challenge as a moderator, but it鈥檚 having a bigger impact on his professional life, both as a researcher and teacher. He can use case studies from the 2016 U.S. presidential election cycle to show how fake news circulated, and the role of actors like Cambridge Analytica, 鈥渂ut that data and those strategies are now eight years old, and those contexts no longer exist鈥攚e鈥檙e in a different world now,鈥� Keegan said. 鈥淐an we prepare our students to be better engineers, managers, artists and citizens with such old case studies?鈥�

Meta purchased Crowdtangle in 2016, and Keegan acknowledged that the tech platform isn鈥檛 required to make its data publicly available. 鈥淏ut researchers have built our careers, infrastructure and programs on assumptions that we鈥檇 have access to these tools, so to have that rug pulled from under us has been profoundly disruptive to our ability to provide transparency, engage and ask critical questions,鈥� he said.

Keegan hopes to learn more through a grant he鈥檚 pursuing from the National Science Foundation. If awarded, he hopes to study the consequences of actions like Meta鈥檚 in the scientific research community.

鈥淲hen that data disappears, how does that impact scholarship?鈥� he asked. 鈥淐an we measure how research methods changing, the way we collaborate, the strategies we鈥檒l need to develop to make sure we鈥檙e able to ask critical questions?鈥�

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By Joe Arney
Photo by Kimberly Coffin (CritMedia, StratComm'18)

When asked why they choose the 精品SM在线影片, students and faculty alike tend to cite its location, along with academic prestige, research successes and access to opportunity.

That was a big draw for Joe Izaguirre III, as well. But it wasn鈥檛 the mountains he had in mind when he signed on as an assistant professor of communication at the College of Media, Communication and Information.

Izaguirre studies how political power influences Latin identities from the lens of public rhetoric and rhetorical histories. Plenty of the source material for his book includes texts produced by activists who lived in the Colorado area.

鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 thought of this, but I鈥檒l be able to hand-deliver the book to families who participated, instead of just dropping it in the mail,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t feels like an opportunity to have a more personal connection to the things I鈥檝e been studying.鈥�

Izaguirre is among the seven new tenure-track faculty joining CMCI this fall. The college also is welcoming seven nontenure-track faculty, including new appointments for professors who previously held different roles.

鈥淚鈥檓 so excited to welcome our new faculty to CMCI,鈥� said Lori Bergen, founding dean of the college. 鈥淎s the media, communication, design and information landscape continues to dramatically change, the new perspectives these professors bring will ensure our students get a cutting-edge, immediately applicable education.鈥�

  鈥淚t was a great experience, as an instructor, to be able to work with students who were that interested in learning and participating.鈥�
Dinfin K. Mulupi, assistant professor, journalism

Design thinking

For the first time, this year鈥檚 incoming cohort includes faculty from the environmental design program, which formally integrated with CMCI over the summer. Though there are no changes for current students, faculty in the program are enthusiastic about the chance to collaborate with colleagues eager to explore new applications for their work.

Mart铆n Paddack, a teaching associate professor who joins CMCI and ENVD following seven years at Howard University, has a wealth of interests around architecture and sustainability, including participatory design鈥斺�渦nderstanding how we identify where there is need and trying to create connections with community for design.鈥�

鈥淚 always try to inculcate into students that it鈥檚 not about coming up with an idea and saying, here鈥檚 the answer,鈥� said Paddack, who also is founder and principal of the Washington, D.C.-based DesignMAP firm. 鈥淚t comes down to communication鈥攁sking the right questions and really listening so you can identify where the needs are. If you are prescriptive, and don鈥檛 listen to your community, that鈥檚 when design starts to fail.鈥�

Paddack brings a diverse set of interests鈥攁rchitecture, sustainability, social responsibility, writing, painting, woodworking鈥攖o the classroom, as well as a global perspective: He was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Peru and Uruguay before moving to D.C. as a boy. He also taught in South America and completed a painting residency in Barcelona. He helped set up a fabrication lab at Howard to ensure students developed both practical architecture experience.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 something I really like about environmental design at CU鈥攖he focus on how we can apply sustainable principles across four different areas, and an emphasis on doing hands-on fabrication so that students learn the theory, but also how to apply it,鈥� he said.

鈥楪reat experience鈥� connecting with students

Most new faculty who join CMCI say they feel an instant rapport with professors in their departments, which makes the college feel like home well before they start. That was true for Dinfin K. Mulupi, as well, but she felt an equally strong connection to the journalism students she taught as part of the interview process.

鈥淚 was fascinated by their interest in learning the research behind journalism practices,鈥� said Mulupi, a native of Kenya who came to CMCI via the PhD program at the University of Maryland, College Park.

A discussion she led critiquing news coverage of immigration, Mulupi said, sparked so much insightful discussion that she felt bad moving on to the next topic.

鈥淚t was a great experience, as an instructor, to be able to work with students who were that interested in learning and participating,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e a professor, you are creating knowledge with your students, and they were so attentive and involved that I know it will be a privilege to teach them.鈥�

Mulupi鈥檚 research looks at sexism and sexual harassment in newsrooms, and came from working on her thesis as the #MeToo movement gained momentum. She was among the first scholars to explore the topic in Kenyan newsrooms; her work has since expanded to more than 20 countries.

It鈥檚 an important topic at a time when the news industry is contracting, as 鈥渨hen you have a newsroom culture with sexism, harassment, racism and bigotry, you lose talented journalists who don鈥檛 feel safe and included,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 am also focusing on solutions, especially exploring how we can build safer, more inclusive newsrooms that produce news content that serves the diverse needs and interests of a wider audience.鈥�

Pooja Iyer, who joined CMCI from the University of Texas Austin, where she completed her doctoral work in the spring. She鈥檚 also doing timely work, researching the ethics around how advertising firms collect and use data in the course of connecting to consumers.

鈥淚n my industry days, I realized my own cognitive dissonance鈥攁sking how granular we could get on a target audience while having ad blockers on my computer,鈥� said Iyer, an assistant professor in the Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Media Design. 鈥淚 believe the advertising world can play a more ethical role in how and why they鈥檙e using data, and how they鈥檙e protecting customers鈥攂ecause there isn鈥檛 enough literacy around this.鈥�

It鈥檚 something her student will need to consider as they graduate, she said.

鈥淲hether you鈥檙e in creative, account management, media planning, it doesn鈥檛 matter鈥攜ou will be working with data,鈥� Iyer said. 鈥淪o, how can we best empower you to be ethical about the use of that data? As educators, that really needs to be front and center for our students.鈥�

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