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About Jenna Spinelle

Jenna Spinelle is a journalism instructor at Penn State's Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. She's also the communications specialist for the university's McCourtney Institute for Democracy, where she hosts and produces the Democracy Works podcast.

Jenna's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Jenna:

Journalism May 9, 2022

I Never Thought of It That Way

How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times

Mónica Guzmán

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
Journalist Mónica Guzmán is the loving liberal daughter of Mexican immigrants who voted—twice—for Donald Trump. When the country could no longer see straight across the political divide, Mónica set out …
Journalism March 23, 2022

Covering Politics in the Age of Trump

Jerry Ceppos

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
As the United States moves on from the Trump era — and perhaps begins to contemplate what a second one might look like — conversations about journalism's relationship to Trump …
Journalism February 24, 2022

Journalism and Jim Crow

White Supremacy and the Black Struggle for a New America

Kathy Roberts Forde and Sid Bedingfield

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
White publishers and editors used their newspapers to build, nurture, and protect white supremacy across the South in the decades after the Civil War. At the same time, a vibrant …
Journalism February 7, 2022

News for US

Citizen-Centered Journalism

Paula Lynn Ellis, Paul S. Voakes and Lori Bergen

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
In the midst of the disruptions and distrust that have plagued traditional media in recent years, and a degree of polarization rarely seen in American history, a new style of journalism …
Journalism January 19, 2022

News After Trump

Journalism's Crisis of Relevance in a Changed Media Culture

Matt Carlson, Sue Robinson, and Seth C. Lewis

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
Political scientists have argued that Donald Trump exacerbated long-simmering changes in polarization, populism, and other aspects of politics. In their book News After Trump: Journalism's Crisis of Relevance in a Changed …
Journalism October 15, 2021

The American Newsroom

A History, 1920-1960

Will Mari

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
The story of the American newsroom is that of modern American journalism. In The American Newsroom: A History, 1920-1960 (University of Missouri Press, 2021), Will Mari documents a time of great change …
Journalism September 10, 2021

All the News That’s Fit to Click

How Metrics Are Transforming the Work of Journalists

Caitlin Petre

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
Over the past 15 years, journalism has experienced a rapid proliferation of data about online reader behavior in the form of web metrics. These newsroom metrics influence which stories are …
Journalism July 16, 2021

First to Fall

Elijah Lovejoy and the Fight for a Free Press in the Age of Slavery

Ken Ellingwood

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
In First to Fall: Elijah Lovejoy and the Fight for a Free Press in the Age of Slavery (Pegasus Books, 2021), Ken Ellingwood takes readers back to the first true test of the …
Journalism July 7, 2021

Home Style Opinion

How Local Newspapers Can Slow Polarization

Joshua P. Darr, Matthew P. Hitt, and Johanna L. Dunaway

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
The connection between local news and political polarization is a hot topic that scholars in political science, journalism, and other fields have explored from multiple angles. It's not often that …
Journalism June 23, 2021

News for the Rich, White, and Blue

How Place and Power Distort American Journalism

Nikki Usher

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
The future of local news and the connection between local news and democracy are two of the hottest topics in philanthropy, education, and media these days. Nikki Usher addresses both …
Journalism June 15, 2021

Imagined Audiences

How Journalists Perceive and Pursue the Public

Jacob L. Nelson

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
Many believe the solution to ongoing crises in the news industry — including profound financial instability and public distrust — is for journalists to improve connections to their audiences. Conversations about the proper …
Journalism June 4, 2021

Community-Centered Journalism

Engaging People, Exploring Solutions, and Building Trust

Andrea Wenzel

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
At a time when trust in the media is low and "news deserts" are increasing across the United States, engaged journalism offers a framework for connecting people, community organizations, and news …
Journalism March 17, 2020

The View from Somewhere

Undoing the Myth of Journalistic Objectivity

Lewis Raven Wallace

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
From the New York Times to NPR, many major news organizations have strict policies about how reporters can conduct themselves in relation to the stories they cover. Journalists are discouraged …
Sociology March 11, 2020

Upending American Politics

Polarizing Parties, Ideological Elites, and Citizen Activists from the Tea Party to the Anti-Trump Resistance

Theda Skocpol

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
Since 2008, the Tea Party and the Resistance have caused some major shake-ups for the Republican and Democratic parties. The changes fall outside the scope of traditional party politics, and …
Journalism February 13, 2020

From News to Talk

The Expansion of Opinion and Commentary in U.S. Journalism

Kimberly Meltzer

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
From talking heads on cable news to hot takes online, there seems to be more opinion than ever in journalism these days. There’s an entire body of research about how …
Journalism January 27, 2020

You Are What You Read

Why Changing Your Media Diet Can Change The World

Jodie Jackson

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
The old mantra “if it bleeds it leads” is alive and well in today’s media landscape. In fact, social media and up-to-the-second news have made it easier than ever to …
Politics & Polemics January 6, 2020

Trumpocracy

The Corruption of the American Republic

David Frum

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
Around the McCourtney Institute, we like to say that we’re “partisans for democracy.” We can think of few people who better embody that notion today than David Frum. He was …
Public Policy December 30, 2019

Banned

Immigration Enforcement in the Time of Trump

Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
Immigration is one of the most complex issues of our time in the United States and around the world. Enforcing immigration law in the U.S. involves a mix of courts …
Politics & Polemics December 23, 2019

Democracy May Not Exist, But We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone

Astra Taylor

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
What is democracy? Astra Taylor grapples with this question in a documentary of the same name and a forthcoming book. We talk with her this week about what she learned …
Politics & Polemics December 16, 2019

A Crisis of Civility?

Political Discourse and its Discontents

Timothy J. Shaffer

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
There are a lot of calls these days to “revive civility” in politics. While there are plenty of examples of uncivil behavior, there’s far less agreement about what civility should …
Politics & Polemics December 9, 2019

A Lot of People Are Saying

The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy

Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
From Pizzagate to Jeffrey Epstein, conspiracies seem to be more prominent than ever in American political discourse. What was once confined to the pages of supermarket tabloids is now all …
Politics & Polemics December 2, 2019

Blueprint for Revolution

How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply Change the World

Srdja Popovic

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
20 years ago, Srdja Popovic was part of a revolution — literally. He was a founding member of the Otpor! movement that ousted Serbia Slobodan Milsovic from power in 1999 …
Politics & Polemics November 25, 2019

Demagoguery and Democracy

Patricia Roberts-Miller

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
When you think of the word “demagogue,” what comes to mind? Probably someone like Hitler or another bombastic leader, right? Patricia Roberts-Miller is a rhetoric scholar and has spent years …
Journalism November 18, 2019

Truth in Our Times

Inside the Fight for Press Freedom in the Age of Alternative Facts

David McCraw

Hosted by Jenna Spinelle
The First Amendment and a strong Fourth Estate are essential to a healthy democracy. David McCraw spends his days making sure that journalists can do their work in the United …