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Communication, culture, and public affairs
Global warming is tapping the cultural zeit geist, with 2006 on track to smash an all-time record for news attention (more on this soon), and various film and TV events trying to raise public attention to the issue. The latest, reports the Washington Post today, is a Discovery Channel documentary ...
In yesterday's Washington Post, David Broder focused on the Wisc. Governor race, and the ability of Democratic incumbent Jim Doyle to re-define stem cell research around economic development in the state. The framing strategy is putting pressure on GOP candidate and U.S. Rep. Mark Green, who ...
In an editorial in the latest issue of BIOSCIENCE magazine, editor Timothy M. Beardsley discusses the importance of framing when it comes to communication strategy, and highlights some of the points I raised in a recent presentation at the annual meetings of the American Institute of Biological ...
According to BoxOfficeMojo, the weekend take for Inconvenient Truth dropped to $1.16 million this week, down from $1.597 million last week, $2.016 million two weeks back, and $1.9 million three weeks ago. In total, the film has grossed $15,039,000, placing it fourth all time among documentaries ...
The journal Nature runs a story on the 50 most visited science-related blogs as ranked by Technorati. Only evolution stands out as a dominant special focus, though several very popular blogs are specific to climate change. More on this forthcoming, particularly the media-impact of these blogs.
Today marks the ten year anniversary of the birth of the cloned sheep Dolly, and the anniversary comes as Congress debates various bills impacting funding for embryonic stem cell research (NPR files two reports today, here and here.) Despite ten years of debate over therapeutic and reproductive ...
It appears that while audiences continue to go see Inconvenient Truth, some of the excitement has worn off. According to BoxOffice Mojo, the film opened in 73 more theaters this weekend, bringing its total to 587, still a tiny number compared to the 3000 screens that blockbusters run on. Across ...
There are two dominant ways we view the role of the news media in the U.S., with both views reflected in the traditions of classical sociology. The first perspective emphasizes the "power and persuasion" nature of the news. When we think of the media as a campaign tool, as a vehicle for elites to ...
There are two generalizable findings on influencing behavior change. First, citizens are more likely to get involved politically if they see members of their peer group or social group getting involved. In other words, the choice to participate may be as simple as doing something that everyone ...
One of the critiques of Inconvenient Truth that has emerged is that Gore spends a lot of time warning viewers about global warming, but strays from actually providing concrete suggestions for policy action. Some have argued that this reflects his eye on the Presidential race in 2008, and that ...
A pre-publication release of a study I did with Kirby Goidel of LSU is now available at the website of the journal POLITICAL BEHAVIOR. Analyzing national survey data collected in 2003, the study finds that the most consistent predictor of citizen activism in the stem cell debate (measured as ...
I was lucky enough to snag a ticket to see Superman Returns tonight at the Uptown Theater in Cleveland Park. Here is the scoop, without spoiling the movie: Superman foils a plot by Luthor to create a new Fortress of Solitude-like continent in the middle of the North Atlantic. As Luthor explains ...
In the recent issue of The NY Review of Books, James Hansen pens a must-read review of several recent books on climate change, and includes a review of Gore's Inconvenient Truth. Hansen on the film: The movie seems to me powerful and the book complements it, adding useful explanations. It is ...
Frank Luntz, GOP pollster and architect of the Republican message strategy on global warming, said last night in a documentary on CBC that he has changed his position on global warming, and now accepts the scientific evidence. Go here for more and to see archived video. Below is a transcript from ...
With the Supreme Court deciding yesterday to hear a case challenging the Bush administration's enforcement of the Clean Air Act (Times coverage here, Post here), the Center for American Progress has issued the following Talking Points memo framing the issue of climate change around PUBLIC ...