Publications

1. Koliska, Michael, Erin Moroney, and David Beavers (2023). “Trust Through Relationships in Journalism.” Journalism Studies. doi:10.1080/1461670X.2023.2209807

In this conceptual paper, my coauthors and I argue that the narrow focus on cognitive and rational evaluations of journalistic content in the existing literature on trust in news media should be expanded to explicitly incorporate emotional and social factors undergirding relationships (real or perceived) between journalists and audiences. We posit that a scholarly focus on relational trust can both lead to a better understanding of why and how audiences trust (or distrust) news media as well as suggest strategies for journalists to regain credibility amidst dwindling public trust in a polarized era.

2. Hochschild, Jennifer and David Beavers (2022). “Learning from Experience: COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories and Their Implication for Democratic Discourse.” Social Science: International Quarterly, 89(3), 859-886. doi:10.1353/sor.2022.0042

In this article, Jennifer Hochschild and I utilize a series of weekly cross- sectional surveys conducted by YouGov on behalf of the Economist to explore belief in conspiracy theories related to the COVID-19 pandemic. We ask: How does local incidence of COVID-19 cases and fatalities affect support for conspiracy theories about the origins and causes of the pandemic? We find that, though noisy, the greater the impact that COVID-19 had on a respondent’s congressional district, the less likely she is to endorse the set of conspiracy theories. That this effect was most pronounced among respondents who were the least engaged with political discourse raises a troubling paradox for democratic polities.

You can hear more about this project in an interview for the Hopkins Press podcast. 

Selected Works in Progress

1. “Undermining the Fourth Estate: Elite Attacks on Media Credibility”

2. “Congress, Interest Group Politics, and Media Bias Claims”

3. “Newspapers, Like Voters, Are Not Very Ideological” (with James M. Snyder Jr. and António Câmara)

4. “Local News in the Crosshairs: Audience Perceptions of Algorithmic News Sites” (with Kevin DeLuca)

5. “Newspaper Bias in Poll Selection” (with Eleonora Albanese)

6. “Press Freedom and Boundary-Setting in the Interwar Period”

7. “Local Experience, National Media, and Misperceptions of the COVID-19 Pandemic” (with Jennifer Hochschild)