Fresh Politics, New Media

I'm happy to report that I've published a new piece of research in the latest issue of the British Journal, Celebrity Studies . The article, originally a part of my dissertation, examines the influence of celebrity issue advocacy messages (both video and text) on political engagement at the issue level. This new research emphasis on celebrity politics represents a new direction for my research on the impact of political entertainment. The case study for the research is Angelina Jolie's involvement with the global refugee crisis and the impact of exposure to her celebrity advocacy efforts vs. exposure to advocacy efforts of an expert on situational involvement, complacency, and apathy toward the refugee issue. The experiment discussed in the article presents some interesting findings about the relationships between receptivity toward celebrity politics and apathy and complacency, and the relationships between situational involvement on the issue and political disaffection....

Last week, President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage in a highly watched interview with ABC News'  Robin Roberts. The news media and political pundits have spent the past week or so discussing the implications of President Obama's statement , focusing on consequences for public opinion and the likely outcome of the November 2012 election. Some, myself included , have speculated about the political implications for states like Maryland that are currently embroiled in the debate. Others have spent considerable time reacting to North Carolina's vote to pass Amendment One banning same-sex unions -- here's just one example of how celebrity politics can coalesce around an issue debate. Beyond the polls and the speculation, some journalists have chosen to focus on the personal nature of the issue , a theme that dominates my own recent research on public opinion toward same-sex marriage. As I show in a new article in The International Journal of Public...