The Webby Awards today named FactCheck.org the best political website as well as the best on government in the 2007 People’s Voice vote. Billed as the “Oscars of the Internet,” the Webby Awards are sponsored by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.  This year’s contest drew more than 8,000 entries. Last year, Justice Learning

In June 2005, a distinguished group of researchers gathered at the University of Pennsylvania to synthesize recent developments in the field of adolescent brain development and their implications for the prevention of mental disorder. The results have been released in a new volume, Adolescent Psychopathology and the Developing Brain: Integrating Brain and Prevention Science, published

FactCheckED, a new website designed to help high school students learn to think analytically, has been launched. An offshoot of the prize-winning FactCheck.org website (www.factcheck.org), FactCheckED (www.FactCheckED.org) will offer tools that enable students to search out accurate and unbiased information and in the process become better informed consumers and citizens. In addition, FactCheckED offers lesson plans for

The increasing polarization of political debate was the subject of a Penn Conference on Civility and American Politics Monday on Capitol Hill. The event was sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute. Among those participating in the event were Penn President Amy Gutmann, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the

Federal funding of abstinence-only education is fiscally, politically and scientifically irresponsible, writes Amy Bleakley in a column published in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer. Bleakley, a research scientist in the Health Communication Group of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, notes that studies confirm the programs are ineffective in preventing or delaying sexual activity among teens. They are losing political support among

The Annenberg Public Policy Center and FactCheck.org are sponsoring the first-ever conference on advertising in judicial elections on May 23 in Washington, D.C. Mudslinging in Judicial Campaigns: Beginning to Look a Lot Like Congress will bring together judges, campaign media consultants and close observers of the escalation in money spent on ads in state Supreme Court races. In 2006, spending

The Annenberg Public Policy Center is making its collected survey data on democratic institutions available to the research community. Any researcher or educator currently working in the field or in association with an accredited research institution may request a copy of the survey data. Any qualified researcher interested in obtaining the full data set for follow-up analysis

The increasing polarization of political debate was the subject of a Penn Conference on Civility and American Politics Monday on Capitol Hill. The event was sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania, the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute. Among those participating in the event were Penn President Amy Gutmann, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of

U.S.-style labels have little influence on tobacco sales Washington – Large, graphic warning labels on cigarette packages similar to those used in Canada would serve as an important deterrent for new smokers and would encourage current smokers to quit, according to a research study released here today. “There is no more efficient method of reaching

Joseph Turow co-authored an op-ed article published today in the San Francisco Chronicle. “Why Marketers Want Inside Your Medicine Cabinet” describes the potential threats to privacy if personal health records are posted online by a for-profit marketer of health information. WebMD, an online provider of health information, recently announced a free service that will allow