Journalism, News, and Information

Our research and learning community recognizes that journalism, news, and information have consequences for how societies function, adapt, and thrive. We have three broad, overlapping goals:

  • To describe, understand, and challenge the news and information environment – how do news and information construct and represent social, cultural, and physical realities? What's considered news (and what isn’t)? What might alternative news and information environments look like?
  • To understand the institutions, people, and processes that create and shape the news and information environment we have (or don’t have).
  • To know how people find and engage (or don’t engage) with news and information and the impact that engagement has on individual and collective well-being, knowledge, and action.

Centers and Labs

The Center for Journalism Studies is committed to making journalism better and the study of journalism better. It works to facilitate its innovation centerpiece, the American Communities Project; support collaborative projects, both within MSU and across the world; collect and curate news and journalism research resources; welcome journalism scholars for collaborative projects.

Learn more about the Center for Journalism Studies

The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism teaches student and professional journalists how to better report on the world’s most important beat. 

Learn More About The Knight Center

The Social Media and Neuroscience Lab researches how the human brain processes socially communicated information.

Learn More About The Social media and neuroscience lab

The American Communities Project uses data and reporting to make sense of the social, cultural, and political changes transforming America at the local level.

Learn More About The American Communities Project