Month: August 2018

New Book from Dr. Baumgartner Due Out in October

Dr. Jody Baumgartner has a co-edited (with Dr. Amy Becker) book due out in October titled Political Humor in a Changing Media Landscape: A New Generation of Research (Lexington Studies in Political Communication).

From the jacket: “In the past decade various studies have examined how political humor may influence various political attitudes and voting behavior; whether it affects learning, cognition and media literacy, how it might shape political participation; how people process different forms of political humor; and more. This book is devoted to anticipating and addressing where the field of political humor and its effects will move in the next generation of scholarship, exploring the continued evolution of the study of political humor as well as the normative implications of these developments. It includes research accounting for important changes and developments “on the ground” in the political humor landscape. These include the fact that the cadre of late-night television hosts have completely changed in the past 3 years; there are now more late night television choices; and many hosts have become more overtly political in their presentations. Recommended for scholars of communication, media studies, and political science.”

See the book on Amazon!

New Article by Drs. Baumgartner & Morris on Sources of Political Humor

The paper, “Research Note: Negative News and Late-Night Comedy about Presidential Candidates,” by Jody Baumgartner, Jonathan Morris and S. Robert Lichter has been accepted for publication in Humor.

The paper explores the creation of jokes told on late night talk shows targeted at major party nominees for president from 1992-2008. The working assumption is that the number of jokes told about candidates are related to variations in polling numbers, mainstream media coverage, and party identification of the candidates. Results show a positive relationship between the number of jokes told at a candidate’s expense and the amount of negative news coverage about the candidate. In addition, Republicans are targeted with more frequency than Democrats. Results suggest that favorability ratings and whether or not a presidential candidate is an incumbent has no effect on the number of jokes targeting a candidate.

Notes from Dr. Magda Giurcanu’s Summer 2018 Study Abroad in Prague program (Part I)

Dr. Magda Giurcanu took 7 ECU students to Prague for the first study abroad program that the Political Science department has ever offered. The experience allowed students the opportunity to enroll into two courses, one taught by an ECU instructor and one course of their choice at the Anglo-American University in Prague. They spent 6 weeks in Prague (June 18 to July 27).

The program started with students attending Prague European Summit, a major 2-day event organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Czech Government. Students were able to interact with international thinkers, political analysts focused on the politics of Czech Republic, Eastern Europe, and the EU, as well ask key politicians from the area, the EU, and even US.

Among attendees and presenters we listened to the Prime Minister of Czech Republic, Andrej Babis, the Czech European Union Commissioner, Vera Jourova, as well as Wess Mitchell, the US Department of State Assistant Secretary for European Affairs. Several members of the European Parliament were also present. The audience was international, from all EU member states and the US.

More news about the program will follow….