Politics

Politico Pro reporter Alex Guillén writes that David Goldston, director of government affairs for the National Resources Defense Council, has been selected to lead MIT’s Washington Office. 

WBUR’s Asma Khalid highlights how MIT researchers have developed a tool that allows people to see the social media world of other users. Grad student Martin Saveski explains that the project was aimed at connecting people with differing viewpoints, noting that beyond politics there are “many other things that we may have in common.”

Prof. Adam Berinsky writes for The Washington Post about his research investigating how to counter political rumors. “Just as important as how a rumor is debunked is who does the debunking,” he writes. “Politicians who support good public policy by speaking against their partisan interests…are considered credible sources by citizens from across the ideological spectrum.”

In an article for The Washington Post, Prof. David Singer examines how an overhaul of the H-1B visa program could impact the American job market. Singer writes that “restricting visas for highly skilled foreign workers could prompt high-tech firms in the United States to shift operations overseas in search of skilled labor.”

In an article for The New York Times about why people believe false information, Amanda Taub and Brendan Nyhan highlight a study by Prof. Adam Berinsky that examines political myths. Berinsky found that “a surprising co-partisan source (a Republican member of Congress) was the most effective in reducing belief in the ‘death panel’ myth about the Affordable Care Act.”

Dan Kennedy of WGBH News writes about a new study from researchers at the MIT Center for Civic Media and Harvard that examined social-media sharing patterns among conservative and liberal individuals.

Saqib Shah writes for FOX News that researchers from the Media Lab’s Electome project are launching an interactive tool “that compares tweets shared by the White House with a sampling of those shared by the public.”

Kat Chow of NPR’s Code Switch, speaks with Prof. Ruth Perry about the origins and evolution of the term “politically correct.” "The attack on the 'politically correct,'” Perry explains, " is an attack on the theory and practice of affirmative action.”

Prof. Fotini Christia and grad students Elizabeth Dekeyser and Dean Knox write for The Washington Post about how they surveyed religious Shiites from Iran and Iraq concerning their views on religion, politics and more. The authors write that the survey, which was conducted during an annual pilgrimage, “presents a unique template for surveying hard-to-reach populations in an increasingly mobile world.”

In an article for The Washington Post, Prof. Charles Stewart explains that provisional ballots could delay this year’s election results. “We should be prepared for the possibility that provisional ballots take us into extra innings. This won’t be a sign that the system is ‘rigged,’ but that it’s working as designed,” Stewart explains. 

Mickey Edwards of The Los Angeles Times reviews Prof. Heather Hendershot’s book about William Buckley. “Hendershot is clever to have used his 'Firing Line' television show as an introduction to both Buckley and the rise of conservative intellectual opposition to the liberal orthodoxy,” writes Edwards. 

Scott Clement of The Washington Post writes that researchers at the Laboratory for Social Machines have found that while the majority of Twitter conversation concerning the presidential campaign has centered around Donald Trump over the past week and a half, “battlegrounds differed in what particular issues or themes they focused on.”

In this video, Prof. Heather Hendershot speaks with Mary Kissel of The Wall Street Journal about her new book examining the impact of William F. Buckley’s program the “Firing Line.” “He was the key player in forging a sophisticated, urban, elegant image for right wing conservatism. And that got me interested in him,” Hendershot explains. 

A letter co-authored by Prof. Kerry Emanuel warns against withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, writes Chelsea Harvey for The Washington Post. “The U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement would really set back all of our efforts to deal with climate problems,” says Emanuel. 

Mercury News reporter Lisa Krieger writes that a letter co-authored by Prof. Kerry Emanuel warns U.S. politicians about the dangers of withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. “We all reacted with some shock to statements from the Republican platform that would have reversed decades of progress,” said Emanuel. “We felt we had to say something.”