Scott Talan was quoted in Forbes regarding Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. Scott said that: "This is a real case study in terms of a celebrity impacting an election. She [Swift] laid out in several paragraphs what led to her endorsement. The fact that it was on Instagram is noteworthy as it is the medium that young people use. It was an A+ job in impact and potential success."

Filippo Trevisan published an article titled “#Notplayinggames: Social media and disability and disability at the 2024 Paris Paralympics” in the Olympic and Paralympic Analysis 2024: Mega events, media, and the politics of sport report sponsored by Bournemouth University and the University of Texas at Austin. The article discusses how the recent Paris Paralympics were a game changer in terms of digital disability rights advocacy because the International Paralympic Committee broke with tradition and embraced an edgy and bold social media strategy that created a permission structure for athletes to more comfortably and powerfully advocate for disability rights online and in other media. You can read the full report here.

Filippo and Manuela Farinosi (University of Udine, Italy) also presented a paper titled “#Travelforall: Mapping the potential and limitations of social media influencers as social change agents” at the International Sociological Association’s Digital Sociology 2024 conference at the University of Warsaw, Poland.

Andrew Phelps will attend, by personal invitation, a private convening on games and disinformation hosted on behalf of the Global Engagement Center at the U.S. Department of State, in collaboration with Microsoft and the Kingdom of Sweden, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. This event will begin with opening remarks from Acting Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Lee Satterfield and Director General of the Swedish Psychological Defence Agency Magnus Hjort, followed by a panel discussion. Co-hosted by the Kingdom of Sweden and Microsoft, the panel will be moderated by Global Engagement Center Acting Deputy Coordinator Carrie Goux and feature Director General Hjort; Ginny Badanes, Microsoft General Manager of Democracy Forward; Tami Bhaumik, Roblox Vice President of Civility & Partnerships; and Susanna Pollack, President of Games for Change.

Benjamin Stokes and Andrew Phelps will also attend, by personal invitation, the 2nd annual Games & SDG Summit taking place in the United Nations Delegates Dining Room in NYC in October. Building on the success of last year’s milestone event, the 2024 Summit will feature a full day of programming dedicated to developing actionable commitments and concrete strategies to advance innovative partnerships and projects that leverage games to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We will be joined by our collaborators from the World Food Programme, UNICEF, UNESCO, the Chopra Foundation, Eight Goals One Foundation, and the Geena Davis Institute.

Finally, Andy has also co-organized the Games & Gaming track at the 58th Annual Hawaiian International Conference on Systems Science (HICSS), to be held in January 2025. All paper assignments, reviews, and initial scheduling have been completed, and we look forward to the delivery of the papers (with a 49% acceptance rate and rigorous revisions and meta-reviews) in January of 2025!

Claudia Myers and Laura Waters Hinson's immigration-themed short documentary "The Test" launched its weeklong Academy-Award theatrical qualifying run as part of the Laemmle Santa Monica "Shorts By the Sea" series Sep. 13-19. 

Claudia and Laura's film "The Test" is also a Nominee for the Los Angeles Short Film Awards.

Claudia also hosted a screening and discussion of "The Test" on August 24th for the DC Chapter of Veterans in Media and Entertainment (VME). 

Claudia Myers with members of the DC Chapter of Veterans in Media and Entertainment after a screening and discussion of her short documentary "The Test"

PhD alumnus Brian Hughes was on NBC4 discussing political polarization and violence, in the wake of the shooting on Trump's golf course. (Thanks to Jean McGee, who caught his appearance!)

At the first PhD Symposium of the year, PhD alumna Junki Nakahara shared insights on job hunting and her new position as a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Next Asia Policy Lab (SNAPL), housed within the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. Her research interests include nationalism and xenophobia, critical and cultural studies, feminist (digital) media studies, and postcolonial/decolonial international relations. Her publications include contributions to New Media & Society, Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, and Discourse Approaches to an Emerging Age of Populism (edited by I. Íñigo-Mora & Lastres-López). 

Pallavi Kumar will be participating in a panel discussion for Allison Worldwide titled “Between The Rings: From Paris to LA” on Friday, September 27th from 12:30 to 1:30 pm ET. Lisa Rosenberg, Global Partner + President of our award-winning Consumer Brands team, will lead a discussion with notable industry experts Jacie deHoop, Alisa Gmelich and Pallavi Damani Kumar as they take an in-depth look at the marketing triumphs during the recent Paris Summer Olympic Games and forecast the evolving landscape as we head towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. You can register here.

Ros Donald published a new article in New Media and Society entitled "Making them pay: Comparing how environmental facts matter in two accountability contexts." She and her coauthor Lucas Graves advance a framework for assessing how different discursive and institutional contexts shape the ways in which facts can matter in efforts to hold powerful entities to account. They examine The Territory, a documentary that portrays the Indigenous Uru-eu-wau-wau community’s efforts to defend the Amazon rainforest against illegal invaders and Facebook’s collaboration with the fact checking organization Climate Feedback. Thanks to the Center for Media and Social Impact for commissioning the research that formed the basis for the documentary case study and to the SOC writing group for their comments on an early draft!

Patricia Aufderheide published a chapter, "Copyright exceptions and innovation," in Walter Park., ed., Handbook of Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights, Routledge, 2024, pp. 206-220.

Jane Hall’s  American Forum interview with students and Jan. 6 police officers Daniel Hodges and Harry Dunn here on campus in 2022 was part of the research by CBS’s “60 Minutes” for a lengthy segment on “The Prosecution of January 6th,"   that aired this week on the CBS News program. Hodges is the DC police officer who is seen in the widely circulated video of Jan. 6 attackers crushing his neck in the tunnel during the attack.  In our videotaped American Forum program, excerpts from which are available online via SOC's YouTube channel, some 50 seniors and grad students in journalism and political communication heard from—and interviewed—Hodges and Harry Dunn, a Capitol police officer who has since run for Congress. The two men spoke about what happened to them that day, what Trump supporters said about who had sent them, their mental health—and their advice for students covering victims of trauma. 

Molly O’Rourke presented the findings from the 3rd annual Sine Institute “Young Americans” survey. This year’s project focused on political leadership and the traits and attributes that young Americans prioritize as they head into Election 2024. The release event was held in Constitution Hall, live streamed and cosponsored by The Hill and done in in partnership with the Closeup Foundation, Future Forward, Generation Lab and a team of ten student advisors (undergraduate & graduate from AU) who consulted on every aspect of the project from the survey design to the analysis. The findings have received lots of coverage, including more than 14,000 online viewers, stories by Axios and Politico, and even a shout out on the Jimmy Kimmel show. The findings can be found here.

From left to right: Doug Hattaway and Molly O’Rourke being interviewed by AU alumnus/national political reporter for The Hill, Julia Manchester

Gemma Puglisi would like to congratulate AU's PRSSA Chapter for celebrating its 50th anniversary this past Saturday. Over 60 people were on hand to celebrate the milestone. Thanks to the AU Community, alums, PR firms, "Icons of DC," and others who supported this event. PR firms included: Avoq, Dan Sallick, co-founder and managing partner; The Global Situation Room, Inc., Brett Bruen, President; The Brand Guild, Amy Clark, Executive Vice-President, AU Adjunct; The Zeno Group, Barby Siegel, CEO; Edelman PR Worldwide, Richard Edelman, CEO; Chartwell Strategy Group, David Tamasi, Managing Director; The Clyde Group, Anthony LaFauce, Managing Director, AU Adjunct; Weber-Shandwick, Pam Jenkins, Chief Public Health Officer. AU and SOC community members included: Dean Marnel Niles Goins, President Jonathan Alger; the SOC Graduate Office; the Public Communication Division; Morgan Dreibelbis; Kristi Plahn-Gjersvold; Gerard Maguire; Dagi Kebede ; Luz Torres-Patterson; The SOC Office of Outreach and Commuincation; the SOC Technology Team, including Jacob Audouin and Mads Wooten. In addition, special thanks to the following who spent months helping AU PRSSA and helped at the event: Jake Bridges; Victoria Black’ Kati Vera; and Lindsay Zimnoch; the 50th PRSSA Committee (Zach Gradishar, AU Alum, Publicity Coordinator/Warner Bros./ HBO & MAX; Jenna DePellegrini, AU Alum, Comm. Specialist, Disney; Jolene Levesque, AU Alum, Senior Account Executive, Hunter PR; Sophie Myers, AU Alum, PR Intern, FleishmanHillard; Scarlett Wedergren, AU Alum,  Public Health Consultant, Guidehouse); the "ICONS of DC" who came to celebrate (Franco Nuschese, Restaurateur, Entrepreneur, Owner of "Cafe Milano" who introduced the Icons section of the program; Mary Cheh, Former Council Member for DC, GW University Law Professor; Angela Beddoe, CEO, The American Nurses Association). And of course, the wonderful AU PRSSA Chapter and the many Alums who came, celebrated, and those who could not, but yet contributed.