Asheley Landrum
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asheley.bsky.social
Asheley Landrum
@asheley.bsky.social

Assoc Professor of Media Psychology & Science Communication @ Walter Cronkite School @ Arizona State University #scicomm #mediaLiteracy #mediapsych #trust

www.asheleylandrum.com

Psychology 24%
Political science 21%

“Conspiracy theories…can be understood as the political equivalent of dark-matter theories. They emerge in situations where some movement or action seems unlikely or bizarre unless you can posit some unseen element in the story, some hidden force exerting influence.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/o...
Opinion | Conspiracies Are Real. The Theories Can Be Traps.
www.nytimes.com

“After a brief dalliance with literacy, humanity is returning to its oral roots.”

apple.news/AWWQ7HSErTTi...
Is the decline of reading poisoning our politics? — Vox
It could come by the end of this sentence or, on a good day, the fifth paragraph.
apple.news
I am privileged to announce the publication of the Anti-Autocracy Handbook: sks.to/autocracy 1/12
The Anti-Autocracy Handbook: A Scholars' Guide to Navigating Democratic Backsliding
The Anti-Autocracy Handbook is a call to action, resilience, and collective defence of democracy, truth, and academic freedom in the face of mounting authoritarianism. It tries to provide guidance to ...
sks.to

Vaccines: because “community immunity” sounds way cuter than “preventable outbreak.”

Vaccines aren’t just personal protection—they’re community care.

They stop preventable diseases, protect the vulnerable, and keep our healthcare system from getting overwhelmed.

Immunity is a team sport.

I hope he doesn’t move to ban vaccines outright… www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/h...
Kennedy Removes All C.D.C. Vaccine Panel Experts
www.nytimes.com

I used to love using em-dashes. Now, they are seen as a signature of AI-generated text. So, I’m embarrassed to use them. The end.

Hot takes belong on social media, not in scientific journals.
Science thrives on rigor, nuance, and evidence—not speed, speculation, or snark. #scicomm
my "hot take": carefully thought out and carefully written perspectives that "create new discussions, inspire future research, and maybe stir things up a bit" ...that's all great and I'm definitely looking forward to these new articles. But actual hot takes don't belong in a leading journal.

Reposted by Asheley R. Landrum

my "hot take": carefully thought out and carefully written perspectives that "create new discussions, inspire future research, and maybe stir things up a bit" ...that's all great and I'm definitely looking forward to these new articles. But actual hot takes don't belong in a leading journal.

👏👏👏
Thanks to @donmoyn.bsky.social for the platform to share my NSF experience & some thoughts on the recent cuts to misinformation research. Publicly funded research & accurate information is vital to our democracy. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/i-oversaw-...
I oversaw rigorous review of NSF-funded research on misinformation: Now the Trump administration is cancelling it
Politicians, not scientists, are the ones engaged in censorship
donmoynihan.substack.com
Thanks to @donmoyn.bsky.social for the platform to share my NSF experience & some thoughts on the recent cuts to misinformation research. Publicly funded research & accurate information is vital to our democracy. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/i-oversaw-...
I oversaw rigorous review of NSF-funded research on misinformation: Now the Trump administration is cancelling it
Politicians, not scientists, are the ones engaged in censorship
donmoynihan.substack.com

Reposted by Asheley R. Landrum

In 2017, I was unbelievably lucky to be one of the first science of science communication postdocs at @appc.upenn.edu . Our main project covered #popefrancis and #climatechange. I was recently invited to speak about this work with @npr.org to honor Pope Francis www.npr.org/2025/04/21/n...
Pope Francis focused on climate change as the planet continued to get hotter
Pope Francis called on the world and 1.4 billion Catholics to confront climate change. He brought attention to the issue but it's not clear he changed many minds.
www.npr.org

Fun at ASU+GSV with Mi-Ai Parrish!
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...

Really important piece to share widely. Too many Americans don’t know how severe a threat this Administration poses to our scientific infrastructure, global leadership, and health security
Opinion | The Uncertain Fate of the Young American Scientist (Gift Article)
Young researchers are choosing between staying in science and staying in the United States.
www.nytimes.com

Join us at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication ! We have an opening for a tenured faculty position (associate or full) in Media Law and First Amendment issues. #jobs #media #communication #faculty #cronkite #arizona #asu

jobs.chronicle.com/job/37789047...
Senior faculty position in Media Law and the First Amendment - Phoenix, Arizona (US) job with Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication | 37789047
ASU invites applications for a tenured associate or full professor to teach and conduct research related to media law and First Amendment.
jobs.chronicle.com

I did a podcast! The Ongoing Transformation podcast interviewed me about #misinformation about #science and our work on the @nationalacademies.org report

#sciencemisinfo #sciencecomm

issues.org/misinformati...
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Misinformation?
Misinformation about science makes it hard to make policy, buy groceries, or even live. How can we fix it?
issues.org
Scientists and journalists need to figure out right quick how to explain to the average person how a massive change in research indirects will impact the medical care they and their children get (eg at the local children’s hospital), the education their children will get, the price of tuition, etc.

“People largely learn of what the government is doing through the media — be it mainstream media or social media. If you overwhelm the media — if you give it too many places it needs to look, all at once, if you keep it moving from one thing to the next — no coherent opposition can emerge.”
“Trump is acting like a king because he is too weak to govern like a president. He is trying to substitute perception for reality. He is hoping that perception then becomes reality. That can only happen if we believe him.”
This by Ezra Klein struck me as a really important perspective.
Opinion | Don’t Believe Him (Gift Article)
Look closely at the first two weeks of Donald Trump’s second term and you’ll see something very different than what he wants you to see.
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Asheley R. Landrum

“Trump is acting like a king because he is too weak to govern like a president. He is trying to substitute perception for reality. He is hoping that perception then becomes reality. That can only happen if we believe him.”
This by Ezra Klein struck me as a really important perspective.
Opinion | Don’t Believe Him (Gift Article)
Look closely at the first two weeks of Donald Trump’s second term and you’ll see something very different than what he wants you to see.
www.nytimes.com

Our building had an emotional support donkey visit. How was your week?

Anyone have a high school kid interested in media? Consider telling them about #CampCronkite !!

cronkite.asu.edu/community/hi...
Camp at Cronkite
High schoolers get a head start at #CampCronkite! Explore our immersive summer programs for high school students.
cronkite.asu.edu

Last night, I spoke with 12 News here in Phoenix about #factchecking and #socialmedia

youtu.be/7Y2wc7i1dnI
Media expert discusses future of social media including TikTok ban and Facebook fact-checking
YouTube video by 12 News
youtu.be

Does no one check these things? Could it be the case that the doi was mistyped and the wrong article was pulled by an editorial assistant?

That reference #9 is our paper, which clearly does not talk about this at all… i mean, it couldn’t even be confused with a paper that did…

In “Engineered hypoxia-responsive albumin nanoparticles mediating mitophagy regulation for cancer therapy” the authors say:

So… an article we published on science curiosity and political information processing was inappropriately cited in a @naturecomms.bsky.social article 👇🧵

As the pandemic collided with a US presidential election, I felt like I was watching a slow-motion car crash. COVID-19 vaccine attitudes polarized (as we expected)—and then that polarization spread to childhood vaccinations. The fallout is still unfolding. #scicomm #science&politics
This chart showing changes in the measles vaccination rates of the states from today’s NYT is bleak.
This chart showing changes in the measles vaccination rates of the states from today’s NYT is bleak.

When platforms like Facebook attached fact-check articles to original posts, it helped promote SIFT by providing immediate pathways to investigate claims and evidence. These habits empower people to pause, think critically, and make informed choices about what they trust and share.

We all want to be responsible consumers of media, and developing certain habits can help us achieve that. One framework we teach is called SIFT: Stop, Investigate the source, Find additional coverage, and Trace claims to their original context.