Latest Studies

Media accounts contradicted the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ conclusion that HFCS and ordinary table sugar are equivalent in their composition and metabolism, according to a study released by the Center for Media and Public Affairs. According to CMPA President Dr. Robert Lichter, “The media still haven’t gotten the message from scientists that HFCS is essentially no different from any other nutritive sweetener.”

On the eve of Jay Leno’s retirement as host of “The Tonight Show,” a new study finds that Bill Clinton was Leno’s top political joke target over the past two decades, attracting one out of every ten jokes in his monologues, and O.J. Simpson was his top celebrity target. The study was released by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) at George Mason University (GMU). It covered 43,892 jokes about public figures and public affairs from 1992, when Jay Leno became host of the Tonight Show, through January 24, 2014.

In this study, which was supported by a grant from the Corn Refiners Association, we examine media coverage of the debate over the health effects of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and other caloric sweeteners in the American diet. Beyond the basic pros and cons of the debate we also sought to understand the role science played in the debate over caloric sweeteners. We employed the social scientific research technique of content analysis, which is described in an appendix to this report.

A newly published study of international and domestic TV news outlets finds that flagship news programs in England, Germany, and the Middle East all gave mainly favorable coverage to Barack Obama and mainly unfavorable coverage to George W. Bush.

Latenight TV talk show comedians have told far more jokes about Democrats than about Republicans this year, according to a new study of political humor by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA). This reversed CMPA’s earlier finding that Republicans were joked about more often than Democrats during the 2012 presidential election.

If you believe what you see and hear in the media, Americans are being poisoned every day by the very chemicals we routinely use to improve our lives. Nora Ephron has told readers of the Huffington Post that she “loved” Teflon but had to throw out all her pans after hearing that the coating “probably causes cancer and birth defects.”

This survey of 937 members of the Society of Toxicology was administered online from Jan 27 to March 2 by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, the Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) and the Center for Health and Risk Communication at George Mason University. Read Full Story