Kathleen Hall Jamieson

Kathleen Hall Jamieson in 2011

Kathleen Hall Jamieson (born 1946) is an American Professor of Communication and the director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. The Annenberg Public Policy Center runs FactCheck, a nonprofit devoted to examining the factual accuracy of U.S. political campaign advertisements.

Early life, education

Kathleen Hall Jamieson was born on November 24, 1946, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She received her BA in Rhetoric and Public Address from Marquette University in 1967, her MA in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin at Madison the following year and her PhD in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1972.

Academic Career

From 1971 to 1986, Jamieson served as a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland. She held the G.B. Dealey Regents Professorship while at the University of Texas from 1986-1989, served as the Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication of the University of Pennsylvania from 1989-2003 and Director of its Annenberg Public Policy Center from 1993-the present.

Jamieson is a fellow of the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the International Communication Association and a distinguished scholar of the National Communication Association.

Publications, awards

Jamieson is the author or co-author of over one hundred works, many of which primarily focus on campaign criticism and the discourse of the presidency. Some of her most notable books include Presidents Creating the Presidency (University of Chicago Press, 2008), Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment (Oxford University Press, 2008) and unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation (Random House, 2007).

Kathleen Hall Jamieson in 2010

Five of her authored or co-authored books have received book awards: Packaging the Presidency (NCA Golden Anniversary Book Award); Eloquence in an Electronic Age (NCA James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award); Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good, with Joseph Cappella (Doris Graber Book Award of the American Political Science, ICA Fellows Book Award); Presidents Creating the Presidency, with Karlyn Kohrs Campbell (NCA James A. Winans-Herbert A. Wichelns Memorial Award, NCA Diamond Anniversary Book Award); and The Obama Victory: How Media, Money and Message Shaped the 2008 Election, with Kate Kenski and Bruce Hardy (American Publishers Association PROSE Award, ICA Outstanding Book Award, Rod Hart Outstanding Book Award, NCA Diamond Anniversary Book Award). Jamieson also received the Henry Allen Moe prize from the American Philosophical Society in 2016 for her paper "Implications of the Demise of ‘Fact’ in Political Discourse."

Jamieson has won teaching awards at each of three universities with which she has been affiliated.

Theoretical contributions

Dirty Politics: Deception, Distraction and Democracy (1993)

In this book Jamieson provides her readers with a new way to interpret political campaigns in attempt to uncover the truth. She analyzes the various advertising techniques used by candidates, attempting to show themselves in a more positive light than their opponents. Jamieson also provides her readers with many advertising strategies. For example, she explains that many advertisements attempt to impersonate the news, hoping to gain legitimacy.

Packaging the Presidency: A History and Criticism of Presidential Campaign Advertising (1996)

Covering the media campaigns of America's first presidents to Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign, Jamieson looks at the importance of political advertising. In her book she writes that, "If political advertising did not exist, we would have to invent it". She argues that although campaigns can be somewhat sleazy and vague, political advertising is a necessity in America, as they remind voters that they really do have a say in their government.

The Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good (1997)

Together with Joseph N. Cappella, Jamieson looks at voter turnout and what causes certain people to vote. From their findings, Jamieson and Cappella pioneered the idea that the manner in which the media presents politics leads to some people to choose not to vote. They argue that the media should be focusing substance, but instead displays politics as more of a game. This, in turn, creates the "spiral of cynicism" that leads to the decline of interest and participation in elections.

Bibliography

• The Obama Victory: How Media, Money, and Messages Shaped the 2008 Election coauthored with Kate Kenski and Bruce W. Hardy (Oxford, 2010)
• Presidents Creating the Presidency: Deeds Done in Words coauthored with Karlyn Kohrs Campbell (University of Chicago, 2008)
• Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment, coauthored with Joseph N. Cappella (Oxford, 2008)
• unSpun: Finding Facts in a World of Disinformation coauthored with Brooks Jackson (Random House, 2007)
• Capturing Campaign Dynamics 2000 & 2004: The National Annenberg Election Survey coauthored with Dan Romer, Kate Kenski, Ken Winneg, and Christopher Adasiewicz (University of Pennsylvania, 2006)
• The 2000 Presidential Election and the Foundations Of Party Politics coauthored with Richard Johnston and Michael Hagen (Cambridge, 2004)
• Capturing Campaign Dynamics: The National Annenberg Election Survey: Design, Method and Data coauthored with Dan Romer, Kate Kenski, Paul Waldman, and Christopher Adasiewicz (Oxford, 2003)
• The Press Effect: Politicians, Journalists and the Stories that Shape the Political World coauthored with Paul Waldman (Oxford, 2003)
• Everything You Think You Know About Politics...and Why You're Wrong (Basic Books, 2000)
• Spiral of Cynicism: Press and Public Good coauthored with Joseph N. Cappella (Oxford, 1997)
• Beyond the Double Bind: Women and Leadership (Oxford, 1995)
• Dirty Politics: Deception, Distraction and Democracy (Oxford, 1992)
• Deeds Done in Words: Presidential Rhetoric and The Genres of Governance coauthored with Karlyn Kohrs Campbell (University of Chicago, 1990)
• Presidential Debates: The Challenge of Creating an Informed Electorate coauthored with David Birdsell (Oxford, 1988)
• Eloquence in an Electronic Age (Oxford, 1988)
• Packaging the Presidency (Oxford, 1984)
• The Interplay of Influence: Media and Their Publics in News, Advertising and Politics coauthored with Karlyn Kohrs Campbell (Wadsworth, 1983)
• Debating Crime Control coauthored with Hugo Hellman and William Semlak (Marquette Publishing, 1967)

External links

• Annenberg Public Policy Center
• Faculty Bio from the Annenberg School for Communication
• Appearances on C-SPAN