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Holiday-Suicide Link: The Myth Persists

Despite the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s nine-year effort to debunk the connection, newspapers continue to perpetuate the myth that suicides rise during the end-of-year holiday period. According to an analysis of news reporting during last year’s (2008-09) holiday period, the proportion of stories that supported the myth remained at approximately the same level as during

APPC Mourns Loss of Distinguished Professor Martin Fishbein

Martin Fishbein, the Harry C. Coles, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication and founding director of the Health Communication division of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, died in London of a heart attack, Friday, November 27. The founder of the theory of reasoned action, Fishbein worked at the Centers for

Findings released on mass media as an HIV-prevention strategy

In a study just released in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center’s Adolescent Communication Institute (ACI) and five other universities along with a Philadelphia media development firm report that a mass media program directed to African American youth ages 14 to 18 reduced sexual risk behavior, especially among

ACI receives funding supplement from NIMH

The National Institute of Mental Health’s Division on AIDS has awarded a supplement to an ongoing research trial coordinated by APPC’s Adolescent Communication Institute (ACI). The funds, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, will help to fund follow-up assessments of a trial testing the efficacy of preventive mass media messages delivered

APPC Contributes to Consumer Privacy Study Contradicting Claims That Americans Want Tailored Advertising

Annenberg Public Policy Center researchers Amy Bleakley and Michael Hennessy served as co-authors of a study directed by Annenberg School for Communication Professor Joseph Turow suggesting that the majority of Americans (66 percent) are opposed to advertising tailored to their interests, despite marketers’ claims to the contrary. A collaborative effort of the Berkeley Center for Law

APPC Hosts First Conference in Its New Building

New Media and Suicide Prevention On August 25-26, the Annenberg Public Policy Center hosted its first conference in its new home on the Penn Campus. The event convened national media and mental health experts to discuss Reporting on Suicide: Recommendations for the Media (2001), consensus recommendations developed by APPC’s Adolescent Communication Institute (ACI) in partnership