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Letter from the Director: June 2022

With the summer season upon us, I am reminded that college professors are often the envy of our non-academic friends who think we “get the summer off.” In reality, many of our CRC fellows work just as hard – if not harder – during the summer. To be sure, the summer months may have fewer […]

Letter from the Director: April 2022

The Dark Side of Comedy When the Boston University Communication Research Center was first organized in the late 1950s, some of its earliest research involved the study of comics. Fears were so great in the U.S. about the potential harms of comic books on youth that Congress created a subcommittee to study their effects on […]

Letter from the Director: March 2022

Disinformation Warfare in Perpetuating World Tensions The unfolding, grisly war in Ukraine has made clear that in 2022 – nearly a century after communication theorist Harold Lasswell’s dissertation on propaganda – battles take place not only with physical confrontations, but also continue via information warfare designed to win the hearts and minds of observers. Communication […]

Letter from the Director: February 2022

Following the Playbook of Our Earliest Broadcasters The continuing concerns about the spread of misinformation are at the forefront of news again in early 2022, engulfing celebrities Joe Rogan and Whoopi Goldberg and their employers. In Rogan’s case, accusations of Covid-19 vaccine misinformation have dogged his “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast that is on the Spotify […]

Research on Tap Event: Health Misinformation: How it Affects Society and How We Can Deal With It

Research on Tap: Health Misinformation: How it Affects Society and How We Can Deal With It Thursday, February 10, 2022 | 4-5:30 p.m. Virtual Co-sponsored by the Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering and the Office of Research. Hosted by Gianluca Stringhini, Assistant Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, College of Engineering. False […]

Letter from the Director: January 2022

Communication Research in 2022 As we embark on a new calendar year, I asked some of our CRC fellows to share their thoughts on important communication research trends for 2022. For COM Assistant Professor of Emerging Media Studies Chris Chao Su, it is the pandemic that will continue to play a prominent role in shaping […]

Letter from the Director: December 2021

As 2021 draws to a close, I asked some of our CRC Fellows to reflect on the last 12 months and share what was most noteworthy to them in the realm of communication research. Two of our Fellows observed an increased emphasis on communication efforts for social change. For Assistant Professor of Public Relations Rosalynn […]