Erika Franklin Fowler

The 2016 presidential campaign broke the mold when it comes to patterns of political advertising. But, in a new publication, the Wesleyan Media Project (co-directed by Associate Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler) says, "Not so fast" to those who argue that advertising no longer matters in elections. The article published in The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics (open access through mid-April 2017) shows that the presidential race featured far less advertising than the previous cycle, a huge imbalance in the number of ads across candidates, and one candidate who almost ignored discussions of policy. Yet, at the…

Associate Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler and Sarah Gollust '01, associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, are authors of a new paper published Feb. 16 in the American Journal of Public Health examining local TV news coverage of the Affordable Care Act rollout in 2013 and 2014. Though television news played a key role in providing information about the ACA when Americans were first learning about the details of new insurance options open to them, this is the first analysis of public health-relevant content of this coverage during the ACA's first open enrollment period. In an…

The 74th annual Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) conference in Chicago April 7-10 was attended by several Wesleyan faculty members, students and recent alumni. The conference, held every April, is one of the largest political science conferences with more than 5,000 presenters from throughout the United States and around the world. It is traditionally held in Chicago's historic Palmer House Hilton. Assistant Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler, Assistant Professor of Government Logan Dancey, and Assistant Professor of Government Yamil Velez all presented research at the conference. They were accompanied by Joli Holmes '17, John Murchison '16, Grace Wong '18,…

Assistant Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler and her collaborators on the Wesleyan Media Project are the authors of a new book, Political Advertising in the United States, published in February by Westview Press. The book is edited by Ada Fung '06. Fowler's co-authors are Michael Franz of Bowdoin College and Travis Ridout of Washington State University. Political Advertising in the United States is a comprehensive survey of the political advertising landscape and its influence on voters. The authors draw from the latest data to analyze how campaign finance laws have affected the sponsorship and content of political advertising, how "big data" has…

The campaign season so far has seen a significant increase in the volume of GOP presidential ads, and an explosion in advertising by super PACs and other outside groups. Outside groups sponsored 81 percent of ads between January 1–December 9, 2015—a 71 percent increase over 2011, and 12,000 percent increase over 2007. This was the finding of an analysis by the Wesleyan Media Project, its first of the 2016 election cycle. The "remarkable growth in campaign activity by independent groups" it found was covered by The Washington Post, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, USA Today, Vox and others. Notably, the report found little…

Erika Franklin Fowler, assistant professor of government and co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, recently joined the Campaign Finance Institute's (CFI) Academic Advisory Board. Fowler was one of 16 academics appointed to the board, which advises CFI as it plans and works through its research agenda. Also appointed was Michael Franz, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project and a professor at Bowdoin College. Founded in 1999, CFI is a campaign finance policy think tank. According to the website, its original work is published in academic journals, and is regularly used by the media and policymakers. Its tools are made available to…

Assistant Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler, Project Manager in the Government Department Laura Baum, and four students presented a paper titled, "A Messenger Like Me: The Effect of Ordinary Spokespeople in Campaign Advertising" at the 2014 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association Conference, Aug. 30 in Washington, D.C. The student authors are P. Marshal Lawler '16, Michael Linden '15, Eliza Loomis '15 and Zachary Wulderk '15. The paper considers the effects of using non-elite spokespeople (ie. "the everyman") in political advertising. The authors draw upon the Wesleyan Media Project's vast database of political advertising, as well as original…

The Wesleyan Media Project's research was cited by U.S. Senator Angus King of Maine during a hearing April 30 of the Senate Committee on Rules & Administration. The subject of the hearing was "Dollars and Sense: How Undisclosed Money and Post-McCutcheon Campaign Finance Will Affect 2014 and Beyond." Watch a recording of the webcast here. The Wesleyan Media Project, directed by Assistant Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler and collaborators at Bowdoin College and Washington State University, works to increase transparency about political advertising. It tracks political ad airings on television and reports in real time about ad sponsors, spending,…

The Wesleyan Media Project has received a grant of $74,800 from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to track and analyze campaign ad spending in the 2014 midterm election cycle. The project is directed by Assistant Professor of Government Erika Franklin Fowler, along with Michael Franz of Bowdoin College and Travis Ridout of Washington State University. A resource for journalists, policymakers, scholars and voters, the project has worked to increase transparency in federal elections since it was established in 2010 with support from Knight Foundation. Read more about the grant and the Wesleyan Media Project’s work here.

Wesleyan Media Project Releases Analysis on 2016 Election

Fowler, Gollust ’01 Author Paper on News Coverage of Obamacare

Faculty, Students, Alumni Attend Political Science Conference

Wesleyan Media Project Co-Directors Author Book on Political Advertising

The Wesleyan Media Project Finds More Campaign Advertising with Little Impact

Fowler Joins The Campaign Finance Institute Board

Fowler, Baum, Students Present Paper at Political Science Association Meeting

Wesleyan Media Project’s Research Cited in Senate Committee Hearing

Knight Foundation Supports Wesleyan Media Project