Chris Skurka
LightNews LightNews
banner
chrisskurka.bsky.social
Chris Skurka
@chrisskurka.bsky.social
450 followers 340 following 13 posts
Associate Professor of Media Studies at Penn State 🐾🏳️‍🌈

I study things that start with E: media effects | exposure | emotion | efficacy | environmental communication

Opinions = mine

He/him
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Chris Skurka
tprstly.com
Aye
November 21, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
brendannyhan.bsky.social
Trumpist rule consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: there must be a president and executive branch whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside its opponents and victims whom the law binds but does not protect.
gregsargent.bsky.social Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 27d
This is really appalling: Rep Adam Smith tells me that in a briefing, Pentagon officials said they reserve the right to kill people who are "affiliated" with their list of "narco-terror groups."

But under questioning, they wouldn't define what "affiliated" means!

newrepublic.com/article/2025...
November 2, 2025 at 2:52 PM
chrisskurka.bsky.social
You've got one week left to submit your application for our Health/Sci Comm Assistant Professor position here in
@bellisariograded.bsky.social, so please share with anyone who might be interested!
September 8, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
amybrown.xyz
this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like
Why should I write better when a machine can do it for me? Because actually no one can do it for you, because your voice is unique among all the people on earth. Siri never petted a horse's neck. Alexa has never been ghosted by the captain of the football team. But you have lived, your heart is beating, you have suffered, and you have something important to say. It's a human's job, to use words, and whatever job you give to a machine, that part of your brain goes dark. Maybe it's worth it when it comes to remembering phone numbers and directions, but when that part of your brain that uses words goes dark, that's a vast area that's very close to your soul. Don't let some internet platform convince you that what you have to say and create isn't worthwhile. Words are the echo of your soul. Honing that echo matters.
August 22, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
caseycrownhart.bsky.social
We've finally got some hard numbers on AI's energy demand from a major tech company: Google says a median prompt to Gemini uses 0.24 watt-hours of electricity. 🧵 @technologyreview.com www.technologyreview.com/2025/08/21/1...
In a first, Google has released data on how much energy an AI prompt uses
It’s the most transparent estimate yet from one of the big AI companies, and a long-awaited peek behind the curtain for researchers.
www.technologyreview.com
August 21, 2025 at 12:32 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
davidrvetter.bsky.social
The Trump administration has announced that the US will rewrite past climate reports, in a clear attempt to erase scientific history and undermine the consensus on human-caused climate change.
US to rewrite its past national climate reports
US President Donald Trump's administration is revising past editions of the nation's premier climate report -- its latest move to undermine the scientific consensus on human-caused global warming.
www.france24.com
August 8, 2025 at 6:26 AM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
bellisariograded.bsky.social
@chrisskurka.bsky.social, @clctroy.bsky.social, Yin Yang, & @jessgallmyrick.bsky.social are among the coauthors of "'It Is in the Air': Seeking & Scanning for Information About Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Among Young-Adult Men Who Have Sex w/ Men in the US." www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
“It Is in the Air”: Seeking and Scanning for Information About Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Among Young-Adult Men Who Have Sex with Men in the US
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a biomedical intervention that dramatically lowers one’s risk of acquiring HIV. However, PrEP uptake has been slow among young-adult men who have sex with men (YM...
www.tandfonline.com
August 5, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
mattgrossmann.bsky.social
We have a JOP article about how swifties ~randomly denied tickets to the eras tour due to website allocation errors changed their views on related policies
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...
The Development of an Issue Public: Evidence from The Eras Tour | The Journal of Politics: Vol 0, No ja
www.journals.uchicago.edu
July 29, 2025 at 2:51 AM
chrisskurka.bsky.social
🚨 We are hiring at Penn State! My college (@bellisariograded.bsky.social‬) is hiring an Assistant Professor in Health/Science Communication (emphasis on social scientific approaches).

I'm leading the search, so feel free to reach out with any questions.

psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Academic...
Assistant Professor in Media Studies
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...
psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
July 25, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
overbye.bsky.social
For anyone on the Communication job market this year S. Rutherford McEwan has put together an excellent spreadsheet for 2025-2026 openings. Highly recommend checking it out (whether you're applying or hiring):

docs.getgrist.com/rHppfvPrMDQd...

#commsky #academicsky #communication
Comm Job Spreadsheet 2025-2026 - Grist
A modern, open source spreadsheet that goes beyond the grid
docs.getgrist.com
July 24, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
anniewald.bsky.social
Want to join us @univie.ac.at? Our department @ipk-univie.bsky.social is hiring a tenure-track professor in interactive communication, with a special focus on human-AI communication.

📆 Apply until September 17!
👀 More information here: jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Tenure-T...

#AcademicSky #CommSky
Tenure-Track Professorship in Interactive Communication
Tenure-Track Professorship in Interactive Communication
jobs.univie.ac.at
July 23, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
dcameron.bsky.social
Next up at our Political Divisions event at the Penn State Consortium on Moral Decision-Making was @chrisskurka.bsky.social, talking about passive "news finds me" approaches to media consumption & how they relate to democracy-relevant outcomes. How we relate to media matters
youtu.be/GaY-mfwBWbI?...
The Democratic and Moral Implications of a “News Finds Me” Mindset | Chris Skurka (Penn State)
YouTube video by Penn State Social Science Research Institute
youtu.be
July 22, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
chrischirp.bsky.social
🧵Introducing the Trump Action Tracker website!

Today I’m launching www.trumpactiontracker.info - a live, searchable list of authoritarian‑style actions from Trump’s second term (over 740 actions so far). 1/14
July 21, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
brionyswire.bsky.social
The truth sandwich is baloney! New paper out. We show that the “truth sandwich” correction format (in which false information is bookended by factual information) does not enhance corrections. psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/202...
APA PsycNet
psycnet.apa.org
July 21, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
gretchentg.bsky.social
Terrible Friday news dump.The wealth of expertise. The decades of scientific progress. The emerging and urgent challenges we were focused on tackling. It is all so short-sided and cruel. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...
E.P.A. Says It Will Eliminate Its Scientific Research Arm
www.nytimes.com
July 18, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
neillewisjr.bsky.social
We're hiring!

academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30219

The Cornell Department of Communication is hiring an Assistant Professor in Science, Environment, and Risk Communication!

Applications received by September 15, 2025, will be given full consideration.
Cornell University, Department of Communication
Job #AJO30219, WDR-00053939 Assistant Professor in Science, Environment, and Risk Communication, Department of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, US
academicjobsonline.org
July 15, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
benlyons.bsky.social
Now out @hcr-journal.bsky.social: we find evidence of overconfidence, but decomposition analyses show assoc. b/w OC & behavioral correlates are accounted for by deficits in actual discernment ability rather than lack of metacognitive insight academic.oup.com/hcr/advance-...
Overconfidence in ability to discern cancer misinformation: a conceptual replication and extension
Abstract. This study conducts a conceptual replication and extension of prior research on overconfidence in discerning political misinformation, shifting f
academic.oup.com
July 14, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
jessicacalarco.com
This is very, very bad.

A new state law will likely force the closure of hundreds of low-enrollment programs at Indiana University. The cutoff is 15 graduates/year for undergrad majors, 7 for Masters programs, and 3 for PhD programs, averaged over 3 years.

wfiunews.wordpress.com/2025/06/24/h...
Hundreds of IU degree programs at risk of disappearing
By Ethan Sandweiss Indiana University could lose hundreds of degree programs as part of compliance with an array of new laws affecting higher education that passed at the 11th hour of the legislati…
wfiunews.wordpress.com
June 24, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
bellisariograded.bsky.social
A big congratulations to Dr. Megan Norman on successfully defending her dissertation today! With advisor @jessgallmyrick.bsky.social and committee members @chrisskurka.bsky.social, S. Shyam Sundar, and Stephanie Madden.
May 24, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
bellisariograded.bsky.social
Congratulations to Dr. Jiaqi (Agnes) Bao, who passed her dissertation defense today! With chair/advisor @jessgallmyrick.bsky.social and committee members @chrisskurka.bsky.social, Fuyuan Shen, and S. Shyam Sundar.
June 9, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
joshuasweitz.bsky.social
Major update to #SCIMaP visualization of impacts of cuts to federally supported health research. Map now includes information on future economic losses (impact of proposed reduction of NIH IDC to 15%) and current economic losses (impact of terminated NIH grants).

scienceimpacts.org
Update to https://scienceimpacts.org to include terminated grants
May 28, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
propublica.org
THREAD: We recently heard that the Trump administration was leaning on the government of Gambia to help Elon Musk. For weeks, our team made phone calls, wrote letters and knocked on folks’ doors to try to confirm it. But we were stuck.

So our reporters got on a plane to Banjul. 1/
May 16, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
chriswarcraft.bsky.social
There is no hell deep enough to contain the people involved with this
thedailybeast.bsky.social The Daily Beast @thedailybeast.bsky.social · May 15
Kristi Noem has been working with the producer of “Duck Dynasty” to pitch a reality TV show—titled “The American”—where immigrants will compete in a string of challenges across the country “for the honor of fast-tracking their way to U.S. citizenship,” according to a new report.
Noem Plots Reality Show Where Migrants Fight for Citizenship
A Homeland Security official told the Daily Beast that the show is in the early stages of vetting, though approval has not been given—or denied.
www.thedailybeast.com
May 16, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
dingdingpeng.the100.ci
Thanks to everybody who chimed in!

I arrived at the conclusion that (1) there's a lot of interesting stuff about interactions and (2) the figure I was looking for does not exist.

So, I made it myself! Here's a simple illustration of how to control for confounding in interactions:>
May 11, 2025 at 5:34 AM
Reposted by Chris Skurka
mattgrossmann.bsky.social
Congressional committees & think tanks increasingly cite scientific articles over time, but Democrats & (especially) liberal think tanks cite science more; partisan overlap is low & stable
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
May 11, 2025 at 9:57 PM