College News

We’ve all heard the old rhetorical question about our friends and jumping off of bridges, but here’s a new one for the era of social media: if all of your friends followed influencers on Instagram, would you follow them too? Probably, as it turns out. Influencers – individuals who “cultivate…

Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) was developed by psychologists to explore and explain why people around the world hold similar moral values despite having divergent cultural experiences. MFT identifies five “moral intuitions,” or deeply held moral values. These include harm/care, fairness/reciprocity, ingroup/loyalty, authority/respect and purity/sanctity. While MFT is used primarily in…

This article by Jieun Shin, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications assistant professor, originally appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of InContext, a publication by Digital Content Next. People are increasingly opting out of the news. According to the Digital News Report 2023 from Oxford University’s Reuters Institute, 36% of…

Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology Managing Director Janet Coats discusses the advantages and challenges of using generative AI in the reporting process.  This video was produced for the University of Florida’s AI Days in October 2023.     

Professionalism, public trust and ethics have always been integral to public relations education. But for the first time in its 50-year history, the Commission on Public Relations Education (CPRE) is considering the role public relations can play in promoting social change and giving voice to historically underrepresented groups that have…

Despite the rising popularity of social media video platforms like TikTok and Instagram, YouTube dominates the digital landscape for video sharing. And it is the one that continues to attract the highest number of advertisers Unlike traditional advertising that broadcast messages to consumers without feedback, advertising in the digital age…

This article by Janet Coats, managing director of the University of Florida’s Consortium on Trust in Media and Technology, and Kendall Moe, senior project manager and researcher for the Authentically project, originally appeared in the Nov. 16 issue of InContext, a publication by Digital Content Next. Trust – and the lack…

What do the internet and newspapers have in common? When it comes to regulation, just about everything. The internet of the 90s was very different from the polished, mainstream technology that it is today. Content was mostly produced by tech-savvy individuals and delivered to small, like-minded audiences on CompuServe forums…

Earlier this year, the New York Times ran a story titled “Chatbots Are Here, and the Internet Industry Is in a Tizzy.” Love them or hate them, chatbots are here to stay. But are they effective communicators, particularly when it comes to dispensing scientific advice? University of Florida College of…

Student newspapers are integral to the free flow of ideas and information on college campuses. But with campus closures, business shutdowns and student enrollment declines during COVID-19, the independence of these publications is in question. University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) doctoral student Jessica Sparks, CNN Counsel…

This article, written by Jonathan McVerry at the Penn State Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, originally appeared on The Arthur W. Page Center website on Oct. 6, 2023. Reposted with permission.  As the capabilities of artificial intelligence continue to increase, corporate use of AI and its ability to analyze…

There’s a mountain of political research on voters’ media engagement immediately prior to an election, but far less is known about their news consumption right afterward. A recent study by researchers from the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) and Kent State University School of Emerging Media and Technology…