Shannon McGregor, PhD
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shannimcg.bsky.social
Shannon McGregor, PhD
@shannimcg.bsky.social
16K followers 2.8K following 1.3K posts
Professor at UNC. Principal investigator at CITAP. Researching & writing on political comm: identity, social media, public opinion, data, news. BOOK: Media & January 6th (Oxford) https://global.oup.com/academic/product/media-and-january-6th-9780197758533
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shannimcg.bsky.social
Figured someone would get that in the alt. But truly. Here’s my own doodle, Huckleberry
My golden doodle, Huckleberry, who looks like me
November 5, 2025 at 10:32 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
Heading home after a short trip to McGill. I’ve been to Montreal before but not McGill. This campus?! Gorgeous!
Bright red & yellow fall trees on the campus of McGill Red & green tees on McGill’s campus A selfie in front of a gorgeous building, on the campus of McGill. I look like a Goldendoodle in readers
November 5, 2025 at 7:29 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
I don’t worry much about targeting, but every once in awhile, the profiling seems almost too finely tuned
A screenshot of a targeted Instagram ad for me of Andrew Scott, a.k.a. the hot priest reading you a calming bedtime story
October 28, 2025 at 2:53 AM
shannimcg.bsky.social
Without downloading anything, where are you mentally right now?
Pissed possum in a postal box
October 8, 2025 at 4:00 AM
shannimcg.bsky.social
Exactly
“Instead it was because Harris-and the party brand in general-had somehow gone too far to the Left. The evidence for this premise, as I will lay out, is wanting. But it's become conventional wisdom in elite liberal circles, first and foremost, because it lets everyone in elite liberal circles off the hook.”
September 28, 2025 at 2:14 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
What movie do you consider “perfect”?
Promotional poster for the film Michael Clayton
September 22, 2025 at 1:14 AM
shannimcg.bsky.social
Good finishing-my-APSA-paper morning to y’all. Here’s a picture of baby grad school Shan, hanging out with @dannagal.bsky.social for the first time 10 years ago?! The night ended singing karaoke at a bar in the Tenderloin with a seasoned working woman
A picture of four women who do not yet know that they will be singing karaoke later this night at a bar in the tenderloin
September 6, 2025 at 12:35 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
Never has the media’s reliance on game framing been more pernicious, more dangerous.
The New Hork Times Housing Official's Push on Mortgage Fraud Gives Trump a Political Weapon Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, could win the president an opening on the Federal Reserve board.
August 26, 2025 at 9:23 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
Pretty grim kicker on an overall bleak outlook on the future of UNC

www.theassemblync.com/education/hi...
This week, the board met in person for the first time since the email vote. At the meeting, Dean gave an informational presentation about tenure at the university, including how the process typically works. The board wasn't entirely receptive. Trustees Marty Kotis and Jim Blaine both reiterated their opposition to tenure, while Perrin Jones and Rob Bryan raised skeptical questions. Much of the discussion centered around the net present cost of tenured faculty-the metric Clemens argued against using—and how the board can provide strategic and financial oversight of those decisions given the commitment of long-term resources. Preyer said he supported tenure in general but felt it had been given out "willy-nilly" in the past. He also inquired about ways to oust tenured faculty who "retire on the job." No one discussed the other side of the accounting ledger, as Clemens had. Roberts did not weigh in on the discussion.
August 3, 2025 at 4:21 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
Blaine also complained about wanting more "information" about faculty going up for tenure ... which is uh, all IN the tenure file the board receives. Pretty clear the board doesn't take their job seriously at all. 4/
quoted text from story linked above: Blaine added that he’d like “more information about who we are giving tenure to, how much demand there is for their classes, publications, and the majors they teach in, etc.” He also said that “regardless of my philosophical opposition to the outdated tenure model, I think we should proceed very cautiously and with full information before adding that kind of long-term, fixed cost.”
June 4, 2025 at 6:13 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
Blaine also compared faculty who spoke out to toddlers having a meltdown, so there's that. Proudly one of the faculty exhibiting and coordinating "bad behavior" 3/
quote from story linked above: “It is not good governance to give your child a cookie every time they lay on the floor and scream that they want one,” Blaine wrote. “The optics on this are terrible and make the administration look weak and irresolute. The reversal of course appears responsive to public groaning and gnashing of teeth—bad behavior by a few members of the faculty.”
June 4, 2025 at 6:11 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
Who exactly recommended that the board, for a second meeting in a row, defer voting on tenure and promotion cases? 2/
text from story linked above: Emails of the board’s discussion that were obtained by Inside Higher Ed shed light on the months-long delay and why some trustees were hesitant to approve the tenure awards. For instance, Trustee Jim Blaine wrote Monday that he wanted to wait until July to decide because he wanted an in-person discussion and more clarity on the university’s “fiscal picture.” He objected to any “immediate reversal of the decision that was recommended to us in closed session two weeks ago.” He further said he didn’t want to reward “bad behavior.”
June 4, 2025 at 6:09 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
🧐🧐
In a letter sent to Chancellor Lee Roberts and interim Provost Jim Dean last Friday, Moracco asked for information on the status of the remaining cases. She said she was particularly interested in those from the College of Arts and Sciences, which has only had one personnel action approved by the trustees this calendar year-signing off on the appointment of Jed Atkins as dean and director of the School of Civic Life & Leadership, which is part of the College of Arts and Sciences but operates independently in many ways.
May 29, 2025 at 3:39 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
We did come up with what I think are good conceptual models for different campaign ad effects: persuasive (favorability, voting) or instrumental (fundraising, list-building), along with self-report items for them. Our control was an ad for a can of soup. "These ads performed no better than soup."
No Better Than Soup? Comparing Null Experimental Effects of Political Facebook Ads Across Persuasive and Instrumental Measures of Effectiveness by Bridget Barrett and Shannon C. McGregor Abstract Studies on digital advertising effects claim that the primary purposes of online ads are persuasive: They seek to change vote choice or voters’ attitudes toward candidates. But recent scholarship has noted that social media’s unique affordances encourage electoral campaigns to use them in specific ways, such as using Facebook’s ads for email list-building. We conceptualize such strategic campaign goals as instrumental purposes of advertisements. We develop novel measures to test these instrumental effects. In an online survey experiment using Facebook ads from the 2020 Biden and Trump campaigns, we test our theory with list-building, fundraising, and persuasion ads. In a factor analysis, we find that instrumental and persuasive effects are related, but distinct, aspects of candidate support. We also test the effects of these ads on persuasive and instrumental outcomes. Our control treatment was an ad for a can of Progresso soup. We found no main persuasive or instrumental effects of any advertisement type. These ads performed no better than soup.
May 22, 2025 at 7:15 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
We had similar findings in an experiment also based on 2020 FB ads, even looking at the impact on what we call "instrumental" effects (fundraising, listbuilding). journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Screenshot of study in academic journal Social Media + Society No Better Than Soup? Comparing Null Experimental Effects of Political Facebook Ads Across Persuasive and Instrumental Measures of Effectiveness by Bridget Barrett and Shannon C. McGregor Abstract Studies on digital advertising effects claim that the primary purposes of online ads are persuasive: They seek to change vote choice or voters’ attitudes toward candidates. But recent scholarship has noted that social media’s unique affordances encourage electoral campaigns to use them in specific ways, such as using Facebook’s ads for email list-building. We conceptualize such strategic campaign goals as instrumental purposes of advertisements. We develop novel measures to test these instrumental effects. In an online survey experiment using Facebook ads from the 2020 Biden and Trump campaigns, we test our theory with list-building, fundraising, and persuasion ads. In a factor analysis, we find that instrumental and persuasive effects are related, but distinct, aspects of candidate support. We also test the effects of these ads on persuasive and instrumental outcomes. Our control treatment was an ad for a can of Progresso soup. We found no main persuasive or instrumental effects of any advertisement type. These ads performed no better than soup
May 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
We won democracy trivia & thus saved the republic 🇺🇸 @lilymasonphd.bsky.social @cwolbrecht.bsky.social @dkreiss.bsky.social
Picture of people who know more trivial things about us democracy than other people
May 8, 2025 at 1:00 AM
shannimcg.bsky.social
This NYT headline is wild. It’s not a “leg up” in an “election fight” — it’s the ability of the gerrymandered state lege to strip the governor’s executive powers, which will likely result in the disenfranchisement of thousands of NC voters in the state Supreme Court race.
Screenshot of a NYT headline that reads: Republicans Just Got a Leg Up in N.C.'s High-Stakes Election Fight A law went into effect on Thursday giving the state's Republican auditor power over the board of elections. It could have significant effects on a legal battle over an uncertified race.
May 1, 2025 at 8:09 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
5/ This piece is part of a feature in Communication Monographs: Dialogues on Difference. I got to work on this with the incredible @kcoe.bsky.social on this, along with @magdalenasaldan.bsky.social @chavezye.bsky.social - and many others not on Bluesky (see list in screenshot below).
screencap of article titled "Dialogue on difference: Identity and political communication" showing full list of authors: Shannon C. McGregor, Kevin Coe, Magdalena Saldana, Rachel Alicia Griffin, Daniel Chavez-Yenter, Micah Huff, Ashleigh McDonald, Trevor Redd Smith, Khadijah Costley White, Sebastian Valenzuela, and Julius Matthew Riles. Abstract reads: Identity is a crucial force in every facet of contemporary politics, but political communication research has too often addressed it only superficially, excluded it from the subfield’s primary foci, and failed to acknowledge many dominant identities as forms of identity that circulate globally. Still, recent scholarly endeavors create space for deeper conversations about identity in communication research. This essay engages this conversation in the context of political communication research, arguing for the need to emphasize and more thoughtfully interrogate identity in its myriad forms. To make this case, we first review recent research in three domains (elite communication, journalistic norms/routines, and engagement) that productively engage with identity – or that would benefit from unraveling specific intersections and/or implications of identity. We then consider the path forward, providing strategies for scholars in political communication and beyond to productively center identity in their research.
April 9, 2025 at 1:13 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
4/ On that path forward 👇
1) expand the boundaries of political communication research to incorporate the full range of paradigms used to understand communication 2) engage the normative dimensions of research with specificity and rigor 3) when conceptualizing, operationalizing, and theorizing, consider where and how identity is relevant to your research 4) consider agency more fully 5) reflect on representation at every level of the research process
April 9, 2025 at 1:13 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
This is the main head on NYT app — another one absolutely fawning over the unbelievably sexy might of the strongman authoritarian taking a wrecking ball to the US & world economy, amidst unspeakable horrors like disappearing dissidents
New York Times headlines that, stupidly, reads, “Trump's Tariffs Are Latest Sign of His Second-Term Appetite for Risk President Trump went beyond most predictions, showing a willingness to follow his instincts even when critics - and some allies — consider failure likely.”
April 3, 2025 at 11:04 AM
shannimcg.bsky.social
SPIT 🤢
Spit on Trump’s sleeve
March 5, 2025 at 2:54 AM
shannimcg.bsky.social
We are so well and far beyond the “coordinating outfits” part of the plot — make a political point, sartorially speaking?!
A screenshot of CNN’s coverage of the president’s speech tonight where the crayon says, “House Dems plan to coordinate outfits to make political points”
March 5, 2025 at 1:51 AM
shannimcg.bsky.social
We’re flying to DCA on a small plane. We’re solemnly reviewing the emergency exit protocols. 🙌🏽
A person a row in front of me on a flight looking at the emergency exit handout.
February 26, 2025 at 9:12 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
Presidential Authority
and the Legitimation
of Far-Right News in IJPP w/ @allisonarcher.bsky.social @carolynschmitt.bsky.social & @heesoojang.bsky.social
A screenshot of the paper, titled in skeet. Abstract reads, “What position do far-right news outlets occupy in contemporary U.S. politics, and how did Trump use the power of the presidency to contribute to their rise among Republican legislators and mainstream American media? We posit that Trump’s position as president, in conjunction with his populist communication style that favored far-right outlets, contributed to the legitimation of such outlets. We first analyze Trump’s tweets during his presidency (January 2017–January 2021) mentioning three far-right outlets (One America News Network, Newsmax, and Breitbart), conceptualizing these messages as authority signals that symbolically lend legitimacy to the media sources. We then provide rich descriptive information regarding subsequent mentions of the far-right outlets in four national mainstream newspapers as well as appearances by GOP (Republican) members of Congress in the far-right outlets. We find significant and positive correlations between Trump’s tweets and mainstream media coverage of One America News Network (OANN) and Newsmax, and significant and positive correlations between Trump’s tweets and GOP Congressional interviews on OANN and Newsmax. Together, these results represent an example of presidential authority signals that bolster far-right outlets and aid in their legitimization among legislators and the mainstream press. The findings shed light on the role of political leaders in the recent mainstreaming of the far-right across many democratic countries.
February 1, 2025 at 2:56 PM
shannimcg.bsky.social
This NYT headline is not only sycophantic — its misleading and does nothing to frame the presidents actions as not only illegal, but a grave threat to democracy
A New York Times headline that reads a mid the chaos Trump is a simple message. He’s in charge.
January 29, 2025 at 11:59 AM