Glenn Altschuer, the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies and Dean of Continuing Education and Summer Session, and Sidney Tarrow, the Emeritus Maxwell Upson Professor of Government, both in the College of Arts & Sciences, recently wrote an opinion piece in The Hill on the topic of fake news. The article focuses on the relationship between partisan polarization and a growing distrust of the "establishment," whether that be government officials and career politicians or news sources.
"As polarization and the media revolution have advanced, the relationship between political beliefs and party identification has been reversed," they write. "According to political scientists Alan Abramowitz and Steven Webster, rather than ideas empowering partisanship, partisan commitments encourage support for political ideas — no matter how deceptive, false, or bonkers they seem to more neutral observers."
Serge Petchenyi/Cornell University
From left, Xi Yang, PhD '10, senior lecturer of finance in the SC Johnson College of Business; Christine Ye; Christine Ye Award recipient Margaret E. Foster, doctoral candidate in communication; Cornelia Ye Award recipient Naman Agrawal, doctoral candidate in neurobiology and behavior; Cornelia Ye; and Derina Samuel, associate director of graduate student development at the Center for Teaching Innovation.
NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
Artist concept of the gas giant planet WD 1856 b orbiting a white dwarf star. The planet is 7 times larger than the Earth-sized white dwarf it orbits. WD 1856 b has methane and hazes in its atmosphere, which would give it a similar color to Saturn's moon Titan. The white dwarf formed from a star that died 5 billion years ago, and has been cooling ever since, giving it an orange colour similar to the Sun.