Research

  • Bridging Divides
  • Journalism
  • Propaganda
  • Science Communication

Journalism

Can Solidarity Reporting Boost News Story Credibil...

April 17, 2025

Examining whether covering social justice issues using a solidarity reporting approach increases perceptions of news story credibility. Read More
Can Solidarity Reporting Boost News Story Credibility?

Bridging Divides on Social Media: A New Approach D...

February 6, 2025

Examining a novel approach to identifying “connective language” that brings people together on social media.   Read More
Bridging Divides on Social Media: A New Approach Detects Connective Language
Navigating Election Prep in Battleground Areas: News Editors Share their Strategies

Navigating Election Prep in Battleground Areas: Ne...

October 31, 2024

As Election Day approaches, how are newsrooms tasked with covering contentious races handling the pressure? 10 editors at newsrooms in battleground districts or states to learn more about the opportunities and challenges they face. Read More
Navigating Election Prep in Battleground Areas: News Editors Share their Strategies

How News Audiences Respond to Journalist Race and ...

May 22, 2024

Exploring how different racial and ethnic groups respond to bylines from journalists who share their race or ethnicity. Read More
How News Audiences Respond to Journalist Race and Ethnicity in Bylines

Fact-Checking Approaches in Broadcast News

December 13, 2023

The Center for Media Engagement set out to test two approaches in broadcast news: a more traditional just-the-facts style that lays out the corrections and a more empathetic style that walks viewers through the discovery of why the misperception is wrong. Read More
Fact-Checking Approaches in Broadcast News

A Simple Online Game Can Help Bridge Political Div...

November 16, 2023

New research that examines whether an online guessing game that includes questions about political issues can help address people’s misperceptions about the other side. Read More
A Simple Online Game Can Help Bridge Political Divides

Migration Narratives in Chicago Media

September 20, 2023

An examination of how Chicago news outlets covered migration reveals questions news organizations might want to consider when examining their migration coverage. Read More
Migration Narratives in Chicago Media

Curbing the Decline of Local News Through Engaged ...

September 6, 2023

Practicing engaged journalism, where newsrooms build relationships with their audience by responding to community concerns, can offer a lifeline. Read More
Curbing the Decline of Local News Through Engaged Journalism

Georgia’s Local News Ecosystem

August 27, 2023

This report provides an overview of media coverage in the state of Georgia. Read More
Georgia’s Local News Ecosystem

Do Democrats and Republicans Live in Different Wor...

June 27, 2023

A look at whether political partisanship is predictive of people's beliefs in true and false claims. Read More
Do Democrats and Republicans Live in Different Worlds?

How Multiple-Choice Quizzes Can Help Fact-Checkers

June 14, 2023

How online multiple-choice quizzes present an opportunity to encourage readers to engage with fact-checking content and to help them learn. Read More
How Multiple-Choice Quizzes Can Help Fact-Checkers

The News Philadelphians Use: Analyzing the Local M...

February 27, 2023

Understanding the needs of local news audiences is essential for a healthy media ecosystem. And before newsrooms can take steps toward meeting these needs, it’s crucial that they understand how people interact with local news, what issues they find important, and what communities feel underrepresented. Read More
The News Philadelphians Use: Analyzing the Local Media Landscape

Even in “News Deserts” People Still Ge...

December 14, 2022

The Center for Media Engagement talked to people living in areas defined as news deserts to find out where they’re getting local information – and if it’s helping them stay informed. Read More
Even in “News Deserts” People Still Get News

How Newsrooms Can Combat Election Misinformation

October 20, 2022

As the 2022 midterm elections approach, newsrooms play an important role in warning audiences about misinformation. We held a symposium to help news leaders in battleground states learn how to detect & deal with false information. Read More
How Newsrooms Can Combat Election Misinformation

Person-Centered Terms Encourage Stigmatized Groups...

August 24, 2022

The Center for Media Engagement partnered with Resolve Philly to explore a small, yet impactful, way that journalists can connect with misrepresented or stigmatized audiences: using person-centered language, as opposed to stereotypical labels, to describe communities in news articles. Read More
Person-Centered Terms Encourage Stigmatized Groups’ Trust in News
Election Fraud Beliefs Web Tile

Understanding Election Fraud Beliefs: Interviews ...

June 9, 2022

The Center for Media Engagement interviewed 56 people who believed that Donald Trump most likely won the 2020 presidential election to talk about their political outlooks, how they constructed their picture of what happened in the election, and what sources they trusted to tell them the truth. Read More
Understanding Election Fraud Beliefs: Interviews with People Who Think Trump Likely Won the 2020 Election

Bridging Political Divides with Facebook Memes

April 28, 2022

Previous research by the Center for Media Engagement found that a sense of common humanity – where people recognize that their own failings are common human experiences – can help bring people together. Now we examine whether this feeling can be fostered with something as simple as a meme. Read More
Bridging Political Divides with Facebook Memes

Advertiser Spending on Primetime News Throughout t...

March 14, 2022

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, television news served as a crucial source of information for the public. But our past research showed that coverage of the virus was politicized in ways that seemed to put profit and partisanship above public health, particularly on Fox News and MSNBC. Now our research turns to the advertisers that support this programming. Read More
Advertiser Spending on Primetime News Throughout the Coronavirus Pandemic

A Better Way to Tell Protest Stories

October 28, 2021

Protest coverage often casts protesters and their causes in a negative light, particularly when covering underrepresented groups. To help journalists frame stories in ways that do not harm these groups, the Center for Media Engagement examined two story areas of particular concern. Read More
A Better Way to Tell Protest Stories

How Partisanship Affects Fact-Checking on Facebook

August 23, 2021

Stopping the spread of misinformation on Facebook is a difficult proposition. One of the reasons it is so difficult, particularly in the United States, is high levels of political polarization. Center for Media Engagement research shows that Democrats and Republicans are susceptible to believing misinformation about candidates from the opposing party and that Democrats and Republicans respond differently to fact checks. Read More
How Partisanship Affects Fact-Checking on Facebook

How Local Newsrooms Can Better Connect with Conser...

August 16, 2021

The Center for Media Engagement partnered with Trusting News and 27 local newsrooms to investigate how news organizations can help bridge the divide between the media and American conservative and right-leaning audiences. Read More
How Local Newsrooms Can Better Connect with Conservative and Right-Leaning Audiences

How to Connect with Disinvested Local News Audienc...

July 7, 2021

The Center for Media Engagement partnered with the Dallas Free Press to explore how Dallas residents perceive local media and how they think that media can better serve their communities. Read More
How to Connect with Disinvested Local News Audiences
offensive comments

How the Public Views Deletion of Offensive Comment...

June 16, 2021

The Center for Media Engagement teamed up with researchers in three countries to examine how the public perceives comment deletion and the moderators who do it. Read More
How the Public Views Deletion of Offensive Comments
contentious issues

What Americans Know and Don’t Know about Con...

May 20, 2021

We asked adults about a range of hot-button issues to find out how much the American public knows about contentious political issues. Read More
What Americans Know and Don’t Know about Contentious Issues

Journalist Engagement in Facebook Comments: Try Ac...

March 24, 2021

We tested journalist responses to Facebook comments on news stories in order to find out which responses led to more positive perceptions regarding the news outlets and its comment moderation. The messages were tested in the U.S. and Germany to see how well they worked across different cultures. Read More
Journalist Engagement in Facebook Comments: Try Acknowledging Commenters’ Emotions

What Americans Know and Don’t Know about Fac...

March 3, 2021

The Center for Media Engagement asked American adults to answer questions about how platforms like Facebook and Google operate. The answers we received revealed important gaps in what the American public knows about how these platforms work. Read More
What Americans Know and Don’t Know about Facebook and Google

How to Signal Trust in a Google Search

January 27, 2021

The Center for Media Engagement tested several versions of a Knowledge Panel — a search sidebar that provided information about a news outlet — to see which elements affected trust. Read More
How to Signal Trust in a Google Search

Civic Signals: The Qualities of Flourishing Digita...

January 12, 2021

Discussions of digital space often focus on eliminating troubling content or improving the user-friendliness of the design. We’re proposing that digital spaces, like the physical spaces we inhabit, should use public-friendly design. Read More
Civic Signals: The Qualities of Flourishing Digital Spaces

Cable and Nightly Network News Coverage of Coronav...

December 17, 2020

The public frequently turns to television news for updates on the coronavirus pandemic — but not all viewers are getting the same story. Our report shows stark coverage differences across networks, revealing a troubling trend of politicized coverage of the virus. Read More
Cable and Nightly Network News Coverage of Coronavirus

Coronavirus Coverage in Chicago

December 10, 2020

The Center for Media Engagement examined how Chicago newsrooms covered coronavirus on Facebook. Read More
Coronavirus Coverage in Chicago