My research focuses on the media’s role in shaping the motivation to participate in politics. It lies at the intersection of the fields of political communication, political psychology, and political behavior. I focus on the media’s role because I see the it as the most common way in which citizens learn about their government and those shaping public policy. In my work, I have analyzed how traditional news outlets, social media, and political advertising influence our political attitudes and behaviors. I am committed to empirical social science research, and although I tend to rely on quantitative methods, I believe methodology should be tailored to the question at hand. I am an expert in survey research having managed a national, multi-year panel survey. I frequently use experiments to explore causality and have conducted field, laboratory, and survey experiments in my research. For more information on my research, please see my research statement.
Since the fall of 2020, I have been working at the Cline Center for Advanced Social Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. My work here has primarily been focused on using local news reports and other digital media to create the first authoritative registry of police use of lethal force events in the United States. In the fall of 2022, we published an online dashboard for lethal force events in Illinois for 2014-2021 with plans to release a national version by the end of 2023.
Published Papers
Jennings, Jay and Natalie (Talia) Stroud. 2023. “Asymemtric adjustment: Partisanship and correcting misinformation on Facebook.” New Media & Society.
Masullo, Gina, Jay Jennings, and Natalie (Talia) Stroud. 2022. “Crisis Coverage Gap”: The Divide Between Public Interest and Local News’ Facebook Posts about COVID-19 in the United States. Digital Journalism.
Epp, Derek and Jay Jennings. 2021. “Inequality, Media Coverage, and Public Attitudes.” Public Opinion Quarterly.
Haenschen, Katherine and Jay T. Jennings. 2020. “Digital Contagion: Measuring Spillover in an Internet Mobilization Campaign.” Journal of Information Technology & Politics.
“Mobilizing Millennial Municipal Voters with Targeted Internet Advertisements: A Field Experiment.” 2019. With Katherine Haenschen in Political Communication.
“A Little Bit of Knowledge: Facebook’s News Feed and Self-Perceptions of Knowledge.” 2019. With Nicolas Anspach and Kevin Arceneaux in Research & Politics.
“The Political Consequences of the Endangered Local Watchdog: The relationship between quality local news and political outcomes.” 2019. With Meghan Rubado in Urban Affairs Review.
“Republicans Should Vote: Partisan Conceptions of Electoral Participation in Campaign 2016.” 2017. With Sharon E. Jarvis in American Behavioral Scientist.
“Preventing Use of Deadly Force: The Relationship Between Police Agency Policies and Rates of Officer-Involved Gun Deaths.” 2017. With Meghan E. Rubado in Public Administration Review.
“Mixed Reactions: How Religious Motivation Explains Reactions to Religious Rhetoric.” 2016. In Political Research Quarterly.
“The Pennsylvania Policy Database Project: A Model for Comparative Analysis” 2010. With J. McLaughlin, P. Wolfgang, J.W. Leckrone, J. Gollob, J. Bossie and M.J. Atherton in State Politics & Policy Quarterly.
Grant Funded Projects
As Co-PI: “Identifying the Racial and Ethnic Characteristics of Civilians Involved in Police Uses of Lethal Force.” $231,837 from Microsoft. With Scott Althaus, Ajay Singh, Jennifer Robbennolt, and Joe Gallo Project amount: Project duration: 2023-2025.
As Co-PI: “Improving Police Accountability in Illinois by Authoritatively Documenting Police Uses of Lethal Force: The SPOTLITE System” with Scott Althaus, Jennifer Robbennolt, Ajay Singh, and Michael Schlosser. $435,286 from the Joyce Foundation. Project duration: 2023-2025.
As Co-PI: “Creating a Sustainable and Continuously-Updating Registry of Police Shootings for Every Community in Illinois.” With Scott Althaus, Jennifer Robbennolt, and Michael Schlosser. $74,975 from the University of Illinois Chancellor’s Call To Action to Address Racism and Social Injustice Program. Project duration: 2022-2023.
As Co-PI: “Holding Police Accountable for Systemic Racial Injustice: The Illinois SPOTLITE System” with Scott Althaus, Jennifer Robbennolt, and Michael Schlosser. $98,477 from the Call to Action to Address Racism & Social Injustice Research Program at the University of Illinois. Project duration: 2021-2022.
As Co-PI: “Newspaper Decline and the Effect on Local Government Coverage” with Meghan Rubado. Sharon Jarvis, PI. $10,000 from the Knight Foundation. 2019.
As Co-PI: “What Does Voting Mean? Perceptions, Barriers, and Opportunities.” Sharon Jarvis, PI. $99,985 from the Democracy Fund. 2018-19.
As Co-PI: “Asymmetric Adjustments: Party Identification and Exposing Fake News.” Natalie Stroud, PI. $15,500 from Annenberg Public Policy Center and the Hewlett Foundation. 2017-2018.
As Co-PI: “Dallas Votes: Mobilizing Young Municipal Voters in Dallas, TX.” Lucy Atkinson, PI. $220,999 from Boone Family Foundation and the Meadows Foundation. 2017-2018.
As Co-PI: “Chicago News Landscape” Natalie Stroud, PI. $135,000 from McCormick Foundation. 2017-2018.
Dissertation
