Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania

09/17/2026

How well do Americans know the Constitution?

This Constitution Day, findings from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) show that more than a third of U.S. adults cannot name all three branches of government, and under half can name four of the five rights protected by the First Amendment.

“You can’t protect and cherish rights that you don’t know you have,” says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director emerita of APPC.

Explore the findings from the 2026 Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey:

Research 15 Sep 2026 A Third of Americans Cannot Name the Three Branches of Government The annual Annenberg Constitution Day Civics Survey has found that 65% of U.S. adults are able to name all three branches of government. By Annenberg Public Policy Center Over a third of U.S. adults (35%) cannot n...

09/16/2026

Congratulations to new Annenberg doctoral student Michael Brumm, who won an Emmy on Monday for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series for his work on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert!

Michael is now bringing that experience to his research at Annenberg, where he studies what happens when political information enters the "late-night joke machine," examining how news is transformed into comedy and what that means for public understanding.

Congratulations to Michael! We’re thrilled to have him as a part of the Annenberg community, where he’s a member of Vice Dean Emily Falk’s Communication Neuroscience Lab.

09/16/2026

Join us tomorrow, September 17 at 12 p.m. ET for a virtual information session about Annenberg’s Master of Communication and Media Industries (MCMI) program. Learn more about the program, the student experience, and what MCMI has to offer. Register:

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: MCMI Information Session. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

09/15/2026

The Center on Digital Culture and Society (CDCS) at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania has announced that recent Annenberg doctoral graduate Adetobi Moses (Ph.D. ‘26) will be the newest CDCS postdoctoral fellow.

Her research explores how stories and cultural memory shape how people understand politics, particularly during global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. She also studies how the media and globalization inform transnational spaces, identities, cultures, and artistic practices.

News 11 Sep 2026 Adetobi Moses (Ph.D. ‘26) Named Center on Digital Culture and Society Postdoctoral Fellow During the next year, she will explore how narratives and cultural memory intersect with political realities, particularly during global crises. The Center on Digital Culture and Society (CDC...

09/15/2026

Annenberg researchers studied how Black Americans’ self-identity and social relationships relate to the extent to which they perceive themselves as adjusting their communication in different settings.

Research 9 Sep 2026 The Psychosocial Roots of Code Switching Annenberg researchers studied how Black Americans’ self-identity and social relationships relate to the extent to which they perceive themselves as adjusting their communication in different settings. By Erica Moser, Penn Today The ways ...

09/11/2026

🗳️ Voting is now open for the International Communication Association’s 2026 election!

ICA members have the opportunity to help shape the association’s future by voting for association-wide officers and bylaws changes, as well as in Division/Interest Group elections. And among this year’s candidates for ICA President is our very own Associate Professor Sarah Jackson!

Voting is open through October 20.

Learn more and vote:

09/11/2026

Today marks 25 years since the attacks of September 11, 2001.

In a new guest column for The Daily Pennsylvanian, Annenberg Professor Emeritus Barbie Zelizer reflects on what 9/11 revealed about American journalism — and what, a quarter-century later, still hasn’t changed.

Guest columnist Barbie Zelizer reflects on the impact of 9/11 on journalism. 

09/11/2026

🎉Xinyi Wang (Ph.D. '25), a postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, has been named a 2026 Penn Climate Scholar.

News 9 Sep 2026 Xinyi Wang (Ph.D. ‘25) Named 2026 Penn Climate Scholar The Health Communication and Equity Lab postdoctoral fellow studies curiosity and information seeking, particularly in the health domain. Xinyi Wang (Ph.D. '25), a postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg School for Communication a...

09/10/2026

Data centers. Dating apps and Love Island. Anti-violence campaigns targeting local youth. Read these stories and more on our website: https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news

09/10/2026

In this age of personalization, we receive different discounts on products from our neighbors based on what we click and share. Phone apps track our locations in aisles, on the street, and at the cash register. We mention that we need diapers to our smart speaker, and ads for baby wipes pop up in our social media feeds.

Now with generative AI, smart TVs, and smart doorbells, companies are using that personal data to not only target you with personalized ads but also to figure out the lowest salary you’d accept.

Joseph Turow, Robert Lewis Shayon Professor Emeritus of Media Systems and Industries at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, has been studying how marketers use personal data for decades. In his new book, “The Problem with Personalization: How Advertisers Learned to Make and Break Us from Ancient Times to the AI Age,” he traces how that tracking has evolved over centuries.

We spoke to him about recent advancements in data collection and Americans’ concerns about privacy:

Research 3 Sep 2026 Annenberg Answers: Can Our Data Be Protected in the Age of AI? Professor Emeritus Joseph Turow explains how marketers use personal data to predict what consumers buy and shape how they see the world. By Hailey Reissman In this age of personalization, we receive different discount...