Media and January 6th

The images cast across screens across the country on January 6, 2021, laid bare the fragility of American democracy as the steps and halls of the US Capitol were inundated by a violent band of insurrectionists. Fed by blatant lies, political anger, and racial animus, they sought to halt a procedure enshrined in the US Constitution and to overturn a freely and fairly run election. Meanwhile, efforts to obstruct, avoid, and misrepresent the subsequent investigation of the January 6th attack have continued apace.

With a relative dearth of work that centers historical and contemporary racial, ethnic, and power dynamics in the context of media, our interdisciplinary field was caught flat-footed, unprepared to respond to those who actively seek to undermine American democracy. This edited volume is a first step toward remedying that situation. Media and January 6th brings together a diverse group of leading scholars to help us more clearly understand the relationship between media and the attempted coup. The volume examines why and how January 6th came to be and the centrality of media to the event. It is organized around three key questions: How should we understand January 6, 2021? What should research look like after January 6, 2021? And how can we prevent another event like this?

Khadijah Costley White is an Associate Professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. She researches politics, social change, and identity in media. Her first book, The Branding of Right-Wing Activism: The News Media and the Tea Party (Oxford, 2018) examines the rise of the Tea Party in online, print, broadcast, and cable news. She has also worked as a journalist for PBS and written for outlets such as The New York Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic and more.

Daniel Kreiss is the Edgar Thomas Cato Distinguished Professor in the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a principal researcher of the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life. Kreiss co-edits the Oxford University Press book series Journalism and Political Communication Unbound and is an associate editor of Political Communication.

Shannon C. McGregor is an Associate Professor in the Hussman School of Journalism & Media and a Principal Researcher at the Center for Information, Technology, & Public Life - both at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Her research addresses the role of media and social media in political processes, with a focus on the interplay of three groups essential to a functioning democracy: politicians, journalists, and the public. In addition to academic outlets, McGregor writes often for the public press, and her work appears in outlets such as The Washington Post, Wired, and The Guardian.

Rebekah Tromble is Director of the Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics and Associate Professor in the School of Media & Public Affairs at George Washington University. Her research focuses on political communication, digital research methodology, and research ethics, with particular interests in political discourse on social media and the impacts of exposure to toxic and abusive content. Dr. Tromble regularly serves as advisor to policymakers and civil society on digital platform accountability and responsible data access and use. She is a member of the European Digital Media Observatory’s Advisory Board and co-founder of the Coalition for Independent Technology Research.