Tag Archives: american public

Photojournalists discuss their project on a ‘sacrificial city’

There’s a city in America that looks like a third-world country, according to photojournalists Brett Carlsen and Juan Madrid, who in a recent campus talk shared their hope that a project they have undertaken will inspire the American public to start talking about it.

In a Poynter Fellowship-sponsored classroom lecture at the School of Art, Carlsen and Madrid discussed their ongoing collaboration documenting life in Flint, Michigan. (more…)

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Panelists explore the NSA and the ‘knotty’ question of the public’s right to know

Without any sort of legal protections in place, journalists reporting on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) massive surveillance program are facing a huge challenge, said Spencer Ackerman, the Guardian’s U.S. national security editor, during a panel discussion at the Law School on Dec. 5.

Ackerman took part in a discussion titled “Investigative Reporting, Espionage and NSA Leaks” with James Bamford, who is widely regarded as the chief chronicler of the NSA, and Gabriel Schoenfeld, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. The discussion, sponsored by KLAMP and the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism, was moderated by David A. Schulz, the Floyd Abrams Clinical Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School and partner at Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz LLP in New York. (more…)

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Bisphenol A Affects Sex-Specific Reproductive Behaviors in a Monogamous Animal Species, Says MU Researcher

Animal Findings Suggest That Gender May Also Influence Chemical Exposure Risks for Humans

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Parents, teachers and psychologists know boys and girls behave differently. However, that difference isn’t taken into account by most methods used to assess the risk to children from chemical exposure, according to Cheryl Rosenfeld, associate professor of biomedical sciences in the University of Missouri’s Bond Life Sciences Center. A series of experiments by Rosenfeld studied the effects of prenatal exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) on later reproductive-associated behaviors using a socially and genetically monogamous rodent, the California mouse, which may better mirror most human societies than other rodents. (more…)

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The Right to Vote

A lot is up for grabs this November in America—the presidency of the United States, for one. Not to mention a third of U.S. Senate seats, all seats in the U.S. House, and state-level amendments on issues ranging from voter ID to same-sex marriage (Minnesota has both on the ballot).

But almost six million Americans will sit this one out because of something they’ve done. They’re felons—perpetrators, at some point in their lives, of a serious crime. (more…)

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American Public Opposes Israel Striking Iran: UMD Poll

U.S. Should Stay Out Militarily of any Israel-Iran Military Conflict, Poll Finds

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Only one in four Americans favors Israel conducting a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program, finds a new University of Maryland poll. Nearly seven in ten (69 percent) favor the United States and other major powers continuing to pursue negotiations with Iran, a position supported by majorities of Republicans (58 percent), Democrats (79 percent) and Independents (67 percent). (more…)

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Politicians Have Less Influence Through News Media

EAST LANSING, Mich. — News coverage of Washington politicians and their rhetoric appears to have less influence on the American public compared to other news coverage, according to a study by a Michigan State University political scientist.

Instead, citizens are more apt to be swayed by news stories about grassroots protests and local events, said Corwin Smidt, assistant professor of political science. His study appears in the research journal Public Opinion Quarterly. (more…)

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Who Wants to Deliberate with Politicians? More than Some Expected, Study Finds

Conventional wisdom suggests that average citizens hate politics, loathe hyper-partisan gridlock, balk at voting even in presidential election years and are, incidentally, woefully ill-informed.

Given that, the thinking goes, it’s reasonable to conclude that citizens want less, not more, involvement in politics.

But that widely accepted theory does not survive empirical scrutiny, a team of researchers that includes a University of Colorado Boulder political scientist found. (more…)

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Why “Scientific Consensus” Fails to Persuade

Suppose a close friend who is trying to figure out the facts about climate change asks whether you think a scientist who has written a book on the topic is a knowledgeable and trustworthy expert. You see from the dust jacket that the author received a Ph.D. in a pertinent field from a major university, is on the faculty at another one, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Would you advise your friend that the scientist seems like an “expert”?   (more…)

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