Associate Professor and Journalism Program Chair Hillary Shulman was featured on multiple podcasts recently to discuss her research on how people understand and trust the information they encounter in the media.

On the Inspire Podcast, produced by the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University, Shulman joined three education experts to talk about the growing urgency of media literacy in an era marked by widespread misinformation. She explained her research on “processing fluency” – the idea that information that feels easier to understand often seems more believable – and what that means for whether people believe information they receive in the media. Listeners can find the episode on major platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, as well as on the College of Education and Human Ecology’s website.

Shulman also appeared on an episode of the podcast Outrage Overload with David Beckemeyer. That conversation focused on the rise of anti-expert attitudes and how to combat this distrust. PhD student Blue Lerner and former PhD student Austin Hubner, now an assistant professor at the University of Florida, were also part of the study. 

Shulman’s research focuses on how communication can help people engage with complicated issues like politics, science and health, particularly among groups that historically have been underrepresented in these conversations.