Ohio State is in the process of revising websites and program materials to accurately reflect compliance with the law. While this work occurs, language referencing protected class status or other activities prohibited by Ohio Senate Bill 1 may still appear in some places. However, all programs and activities are being administered in compliance with federal and state law.

Political Communication and Public Opinion

Political communication concerns the creation, dissemination, processing and effects of communication within the political system. These dynamics play out domestically and internationally, and are often analyzed at both the micro and macro levels.

Topics commonly studied here at the OSU School of Communication include:

- Individual and societal-level media effects,

- Entertainment media and politics,

- Changes in political processes associated with new media,

- Psychological mechanisms guiding use of political media,

- The content, process, and effects of interpersonal political discussion,

- Communicative processes in the formation of political opinion and political knowledge,

- And much more.

Faculty and students in this area have won numerous awards for their research (for examples, see http://osucops.blogspot.com/search/label/awards), and the program has an exceptional record of research productivity. For example, in 2011 ComVista ranked the School among the top-ten most productive programs in the study of news, public opinion, politics & government, and political elections, among others.

For more information about research at the School in this area, visit the Communication, Opinion, and Political Studies (COPS) research group blog: http://osucops.blogspot.com/.