POLISCI CHATS
The Department of Political Science presents:
Joshua Darr (Louisiana State University),
“How Local News Can Slow Polarization”
Monday, November 15
12:15-1:30 PM
OAK 408
and online via WebEx at https://uconn-cmr.webex.com/meet/michael.morrell
We can bridge our political divisions when we focus on local issues instead of national politics. A local newspaper in California showed this in 2019, when they dropped national politics from the opinion page for one month. Our book, “Home Style Opinion,” analyzes the effects of this experiment: local issues filled the sizable gap left by Trump and Congress, and polarization slowed in the community compared to another city where the newspaper did not change. Though local newspapers are in the middle of a major crisis, they may hold the key to making politics less contentious.
Joshua P. Darr is an assistant professor of political communication in the Manship School of Mass Communication and the Department of Political Science at Louisiana State University. His research focuses on campaigns and elections, political polarization, and the decline of local news. His published work has appeared in journals such as Political Communication, American Politics Research, Presidential Studies Quarterly, and Journal of Communication.
For more information, contact: Michael Morrell/Political Science at michael.morrell@uconn.edu