Media
How does a fast-changing media landscape shape public perceptions and policy outcomes? Can public policy regulate disinformation in the United States and globally?
Latest Article
AI in the Newsroom: How AI Could Improve the Work of Journalists
I spent the last few days in Perugia, Italy, where I attended the 2023 International Journalism Festival. Such events are not places where journalism happens. They are aberrations, but they let journalists unwind, exchange views openly, and think big. One of the big issues discussed at the festival was AI. Advancements in AI technology are […]Explore all Articles
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Stopping the scourge of radicalization online
01.18.22
Sam* exhibited all the trademark beliefs of an alt-right extremist. He held misogynistic views on women, believing that rape cases were fabricated to ruin men’s lives. He believed Islam was an inherently violent religion, that Jews ran global financial networks, and that that traditional family values were being destroyed by the LGBTQ and feminist movements. […]
Looking Beyond POFMA to Combat Fake News and Misinformation in Singapore
10.24.21
Ryan Chua argues that Singapore cannot rely solely on hard regulations like the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) to address the proliferation of fake news. He assesses how information is being consumed and disseminated in this new age of heightened populism, before evaluating alternative approaches that could be taken in Singapore. He advocates for softer but more experimental approaches that may not necessarily yield immediate results in the short-term but bode well towards building institutions and technology we can trust in the long-term.
The Silent Pandemic: Legislative Reforms to Protect Nigerian Minds During COVID-19
10.19.21
Officials tackling the coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria have recognized the impact of COVID-19 on citizens’ mental health. In June, Nigeria’s Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, noted that stigmatization and mental health were among the greatest challenges to the national response. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director-General echoed this notion, […]
Rethinking how to view (and slow) conspiracy theories
05.6.21
Conspiracy theories are certainly no stranger to mainstream American consciousness. Numerous polls and surveys have quantified Americans’ beliefs in a wide range of conspiracy theories. Some notable examples show sizable portions of Americans believing that explosives caused the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11 (Dwyer, 2006), or that President Obama was not born in […]
“The pain of refugees is a part of me . . .”
04.25.21
Interview with Jay (Jihad) Abdo. Photo credits to Fadia Afashe. On 24 October 2020 Syrian-American Hollywood actor Jay (Jihad) Abdo cast his vote for the first time ever in a presidential election. He and his wife Fadia Afashe, a lawyer and visual artist, were never allowed to participate in free elections before or even have […]
Bill Kristol Can’t Teach Us Anything
02.2.21
Kristol’s unapologetic role as a driving force behind the Iraq War, as an advocate of violence throughout the Middle East, and as a promoter of hateful discrimination make him unfit to teach in our community and serve as an IOP Fellow.
A New Approach to Measuring the Digital Divide
08.19.20
As Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel noted in a recent interview with the Verge, “Numbers are what make Washington move.” Vital statistics, financial information, and other data transmitted over the Internet are central to how the federal government discovers social problems and shapes public policy. As COVID-19 has forced millions of Americans to work, learn, […]
Fighting Coronavirus in a World That Never Stops Talking
08.6.20
It is not my pleasure to endorse tightening control over information creation and publicity. As a journalist who thrives on the vast benefits of a free press and the newly rapid pace at which news travels, only the coronavirus pandemic provided a rare moment to rethink my position on information regulation. The world, in managing […]
Random Man Runs for President: Andrew Yang and the Media
08.2.20
When the media never fully determined how to cover the first Asian-American Democrat running for president nationally, it created a plethora of challenges for Andrew Yang’s historic campaign. Despite receiving disproportionate obstacles for a candidate of his polling level, Yang resiliently left a legacy that shaped national discourse on policy and empowered other Asian-Americans to […]
This Time is Different, or So They Say
07.30.20
We are less than four months away from a very contentious election in Myanmar. The pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party is desperate to make a comeback, the case accusing Myanmar of genocide continues at the International Court of Justice, the repatriation of Rohingya refugees remains an open question, and COVID-19 has delayed the ongoing […]
It’s Time to Rethink America’s Presidential Debates
06.19.20
The Democratic Party primary is effectively over. Now that Joe Biden has secured the nomination on the first ballot of the party’s convention, Democrats are pivoting towards a strategy to defeat President Donald J. Trump in the face of a global health pandemic and a crisis of confidence in the American justice system. Citizens and […]
S3E4: (Th)interventions for (Th)inspiration? Policy Responses to the Rise of Pro-Anorexia Websites
02.13.20
Listen Here! We know about the dangers of the Dark Web, but what about the Thin Web? First Year Kennedy School Students Lucy O’Keeffe and Nagela Nukuna sit down with Andrea Alvarez Marin to discuss vulnerable corners of the internet where eating disorders such as Anorexia (“Ana”) and Bulimia (“Mia”) proliferate. Some of these “pro-Ana” […]