Annenberg Conversations

Climate change often feels overwhelming and too big to tackle, so most of us simply avoid talking about it. But what if talking about it was actually the key? In this episode, Dean Sarah Banet-Weiser sits down with Penn’s Vice Provost for Climate Policy and Action, Sanya Carley, and Annenberg’s Vice Dean and communication neuroscientist Emily Falk to model exactly what a rich, honest climate conversation can look like.

Drawing on research in energy justice, behavior change, and the science of persuasion, they explore how connecting climate action to personal values and everyday joy is more effective and why the climate crisis deserves the same urgency as AI.

Budget and workforce cuts. Loss of local news. Accusations of fake news. New platforms and changing habits. Journalism is facing a crossroads. As media institutions lose their funding, Dean Sarah Banet-Weiser invited professors Victor Pickard, co-director of the Media, Inequality & Change Center, and Duncan Watts, director of the Computational Social Science Lab and co-director of the Center for Media, Technology, and Democracy, to discuss the role of journalism in our democracy.

As tariffs and the transnational flow of goods are dominating political debates, Dean Sarah Banet-Weiser takes a look at the cross-border flow of media with Annenberg professor Aswin Punathambekar and assistant professor Juan Llamas Rodriguez. Punathambekar also directs the Center for Advanced Research in Global Research, where Llamas is associate director. 

In this episode, we will look at how global media systems are regulated, how digital borders operate, the role of infrastructures, and more.

In season two of Annenberg Conversations, Dean Sarah Banet Weiser talks with Annenberg School for Communication faculty experts about global media flows, climate communication, and the complexities of the way information moves in today’s world.

Dean Sarah Banet-Weiser talks to Annenberg Professors Desmond Upton Patton and Julia Ticona about centering joy and care within institutions, building communities of compassion and trust, creating a joy plan, and how researchers, social workers, and even social media users should think about these terms.

🎤 MONDAY, MARCH 17 🎤 Listen as Dean Sarah Banet-Weiser talks to Annenberg Professors Desmond Upton Patton and Julia Ticona in the latest episode of Annenberg Conversations. They discuss centering joy and care within institutions, building communities of compassion and trust, creating a joy plan, and how researchers, social workers, and even social media users should think about these terms.

In the inaugural episode, Dean Banet-Weiser speaks to Sarah J Jackson, and Yphtach Lelkes, associate professors at Anneneberg School for Communication about how affective polarization, uncommitted movement, and race and gender are shaping the 2024 presidential elections in the United States.