Hi everyone,

Benjamin Toff from the University of Minnesota will visit SMIT on 24 April to present his latest book Avoiding the News. The talk will last for approximately 45 minutes and Q&A will follow. The talk will also be streamed at Teams.

Book outline:

Avoiding the News: Why Growing Numbers are Turning Away from Journalism and What Can be Done about It

More and more people globally are disengaging from news despite unprecedented abundance and ease of access. This presentation will provide an overview of findings from a new book examining why and what can be done about it, drawing on extensive survey data and qualitative interviews in Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. News avoidance, most common among disadvantaged groups, is about both content and broader structures of everyday life: who people are, what they believe, and how technology platforms increasingly shape relationships with news. 

Short Bio

Benjamin Toff is an assistant professor at the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication and a faculty affiliate of the Center for the Study of Political Psychology and the Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota. He studies public opinion, political communication, digital media, and changing journalistic practices.

From 2020-2023, he was also a Senior Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford where he led the Trust in News Project. Dr Toff received his doctorate in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies from Harvard University.

Prior to his academic career, Dr Toff worked as a professional journalist, mostly as a researcher at the New York Times from 2005-2011.