Q&A: Carnegie Fellow Stuart Soroka on how media technologies and market pressures drive polarizing news content

He is among 24 fellows selected to explore the causes of political polarization and to identify possible solutions

Courtesy of Stuart Soroka

Citlalli Chávez-Nava

Stuart Soroka, a UCLA professor of communication and political science (by courtesy), has been named a 2026 Carnegie Fellow. He is among 24 fellows selected to receive a $200,000 research stipend from the Carnegie Corporation for their work exploring the causes of political polarization and to identify possible solutions.

Soroka’s project, “Political Polarization and the News Media Ecosystem,” will examine how changing media technologies and market pressures produce polarizing news content. Using a combination of human coding and computational methods to gather content from multiple platforms, including newspapers, television and social media over the past several decades, he aims to show that polarizing content is not the result of a single outlet’s editorial decisions, but of a competitive media market that drives news outlets toward sensationalism to attract audiences.

At UCLA, his areas of expertise in political communication include negativity bias, misinformation and political behavior. He is particularly interested in analyzing negativity and positivity in news coverage; the ways in which media succeed or fail to inform the public about policy issues; and the impact of legacy and new media on attitudes toward a broad range of policies such as immigration, defense, welfare and health care.

In this interview Stuart discusses his Carnegie-backed project, focused on our news media ecosystem and how it drives political polarization. The interview was edited for length and clarity.

For years you have been investigating the way media succeeds or fails to inform the public about policy issues, and by extension, its impacts on our democracy. Where would you say our media ecosystem stands presently?

I’m thinking of this question in two different ways. Where media consumption is concerned, we have ready-access to more information than ever before — there are 24-hour news channels, and both legacy and new media outlets are easily available online. Mobile technology also means that we have many accurate sources of news in our pockets, albeit alongside many inaccurate sources of news.

There is the potential for new technologies to produce highly informed democratic citizens, provided we can teach both humans and algorithms to prioritize accurate over inaccurate content. But this is of course very hard to do, in part because humans are predisposed to focus on content that supports our predispositions. In fact, the current technological environment makes it increasingly easy for us to consume mainly content that confirms our predispositions. This is one source of polarization.

Where media production is concerned, the current environment is clearly very difficult. Funding news organizations is more complicated because consumers increasingly expect news online to be free. The dissolution of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting doesn’t help, nor do recent limitations in media access to press briefings and to the West Wing. The ability to target specific consumers, either with cable television or online content, also creates an incentive to produce content that confirms partisans’ predispositions. This practice produces a captive audience — but also an audience that is not getting the “full picture.”

And so, there are a combination of technological and administrative challenges facing news organizations, and those challenges likely make it more difficult to provide accurate, balanced coverage. Many good news organizations are findings way to accomplish this goal, to be sure. But there is good reason to be concerned about a trend towards less accurate, more partisan, content. This is also a source of polarization.

Given this landscape, through your Carnegie Fellowship, you will be analyzing how platform design and audience-making happens and how to reduce proliferation of polarizing news content, what are your initial observations?

There is competition amongst news outlets such as CNN and Fox News, of course. There is also competition across news platforms, like television and social media. The nature of one outlet’s content on social media does not just affect other social media content; it likely affects content on other media platforms as well. Exploring this kind of co-adaptation across outlets, platforms and audiences may be central for our understanding of the rise of political polarization and the potential for reducing it. For example: a change in a social media algorithm that de-prioritizes engagement metrics might echo throughout the entire media ecosystem.

What drew you to this research and why is it important in our present political moment?

There are increasing concerns about political polarization, not just in the U.S. but also around the world. Polarizing news content both affects and reflects public attitudes, of course — so changes in news content can only do so much. There is nevertheless a possibility that small changes in the nature of news content can make small differences to trends in political polarization. Moreover, small, de-polarizing, changes in news content may lead to more productive and effective news coverage — coverage that increases news consumption, produces a more informed electorate, and facilitates government responsiveness and accountability.

Overall, are you hopeful about the potential of depolarizing our present media environment?

There are justifiable anxieties about the proliferation of “alternative facts.” But there are also some important factors over which we, governments or companies, have some control, including the nature and competitiveness of media markets, or the behavior of social media and news-aggregator algorithms. I think it is possible to, incrementally at least, produce a news media environment that more effectively contributes to informed democratic citizenship. Exploring this possibility is the focus of my project, and I am grateful to have the resources to focus on this for the next two years.

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Chania Rene-Corail named 2025-2026 fellow for national human rights program

Through the John Lewis Young Leaders (JLYL) program she hopes to offer theater-based civic engagement classes for youth

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Selected among a highly competitive pool of over 550 applicants, Rene-Corail will join 15 other students from public and private universities across the country in this year’s JLYL cohort./Photo Courtesy of Chania-Rene Corail

Citlalli Chávez-Nava

Chania Rene-Corail, a second-year political science and international development studies major, was named a 2025-26 fellow for Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights’ John Lewis Young Leaders program (JLYL), a year-long undergraduate fellowship that prepares college students for a future in community organizing and civic engagement.

Selected among a highly competitive pool of over 550 applicants, Rene-Corail will join 15 other students from public and private universities across the country in this year’s cohort. During the program, fellows engage their campus and local communities in human rights work through a capstone project. They also gain access to comprehensive grassroots organizing workshops, 1:1 mentorship from RFK Human Rights staff, financial support and access to an extensive network of human rights professionals, peers and program alumni.

“This year’s cohort is an extraordinary group of young people, and I’m inspired by their courage, kindness and commitment to making our country a more just and equitable place,” said Kerry Kennedy, president of RFK Human Rights. “I’m filled with hope as we welcome this next generation of leaders into the fold.”

Civic engagement through theater

A believer in the power of using art for political expression, Rene-Corail plans to partner with a local organization to offer theater-based civic engagement workshops for youth for her JLYL capstone project. She hopes to bring the program to youth that have traditionally lacked access to theater and other arts education resources to develop productions that reflect their own lived experiences.

“I want to highlight the issues that are important to the youth — issues that they may have a personal connection with,” she said. “We might even start having discussions about issues that I might not have thought were initially relevant, so this will be an interesting learning experience not only for participants but also for me.”

She hopes participants walk away with both the confidence to use the arts for social action and to also develop practical skills such as scriptwriting, public speaking, set design and other production skills that they can apply to other civic engagement and professional settings in the future.

“My ultimate goal with this project is to create a new generation of creative changemakers, uniting communities and encouraging students to be the best version of themselves, whether that be through improved social emotional learning, heightened educational achievement or unlocking their passion for social engagement,” she added.

A lifelong connection to theater

Rene-Corail playing Titania, the queen of the fairies, in her high school’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” /Photo Courtesy of Chania-Rene Corail

The daughter of French-Caribbean parents, Rene-Corail grew up near Paris and was introduced to theater when her mother enrolled her in classes at age 2. Although she holds only vague memories of her first performances as a child, the large stage and the size of the audience left an impression on her. Since then, theater has been a recurring part of her life, with Rene-Corail returning to acting and production whenever the opportunity has arisen.

At age 12, Rene-Corail moved to the U.S. when a new job opportunity brought her father to California. The move and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic soon after introduced new challenges and opportunities to her life.

Initially, she doubted her language skills and her ability to perform a full play in English, so she stepped away from theater for a while. But by high school, she picked it up again and began exploring new aspects of theater such as writing and directing.

Now, she’s involved in UCLA’s student-run HOOLIGAN Theater Company, which is focused on revitalizing, educating and enriching the theater community at UCLA and beyond. Last year, she served as assistant director to “Curtains” and the “SpongeBob Musical” as well as dancing in the spring showcase.

Finding her academic home at UCLA

UCLA hadn’t been on top of Rene-Corail’s list when considering her university studies. But after receiving an invitation to attend a Black excellence event for prospective high school seniors, she enjoyed her visit and grew fond of the campus. Soon after, she discovered that she could pursue her academic interests through a double major in political science and international development studies.

“It was exactly what I wanted to study,” said Rene-Corail. “And it was an opportunity to get an amazing education.”

In the political science department, Rene-Corail is taking courses within the race and ethnicity studies concentration. In her classes, she feels inspired by peers who, like her, are looking for careers that advance the broader public good rather than personal success.

Race and Indigeneity Learning Cluster Teaching Fellow, Antwann Michael Simpkins, has been Rene-Corail’s instructor in a number of seminars. He thinks she is a thoughtful, engaged student with vast leadership abilities. In his recent 10-week seminar Rene-Corail led a group project and a related classroom presentation and throughout she was generous with her time, sharing resources and providing guidance to peers who needed additional support.

“Chania is among the top students I have the pleasure of teaching in my many years in education,” said Michael Simpkins. “She is unquestionably a rising scholar who will undoubtedly make meaningful contributions not only to her most immediate context but also the world more broadly.”

As Rene-Corail begins her JLYL fellowship this fall, she hopes her theater-based project will bring the same inspiration she has found at UCLA to empower youth participants to commit to a cause larger than themselves.

“Oftentimes, young people are being told: ‘You’re the future of our society. We’re counting on you to make our world a better place,’ but at the same time, we’re not providing them with the tools to do so. So, my project aims to change that.”

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‘I feel very lucky that I know what I care about’

Victoria Gutierrez’s senior research examines how Salton Sea residents organize to overcome poverty, environmental challenges

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Of the people she met and interviewed in the Salton Sea, Gutierrez said, she was inspired by their determination “to do better for themselves, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.” Photo: Sean Brenner/UCLA Humanities

Sean Brenner | May 7, 2025

The research project Victoria Gutierrez is completing as a UCLA senior was inspired by a set of photographs she saw years before she set foot on campus.

As a 14-year-old, Gutierrez came across pictures of Salvation Mountain, the massive, colorfully painted folk art installation in the midst of a barren desert landscape in the Salton Sea region of southern California.

“I remember thinking, ‘What is this place? I have to go there,’” she said. The thought stayed with her over the next few years, and she pondered the small communities of people living there.

“It’s very beautiful, but it’s very desolate, plants don’t really grow and it’s known for having toxic dust that comes from the Salton Sea,” Gutierrez said. “I just wondered, how do people live there, how do they cook, how do they do this? Those questions just lived in my brain for a long time.”

Shortly after Gutierrez arrived at UCLA — the Rhode Island native transferred in 2023 from Saddleback College — the opportunity to explore those questions arose. Determined to pursue her own research project, she set up a meeting at the Undergraduate Research Center. It was there that a UCLA graduate student named Jewell Humphrey suggested that Gutierrez think about what questions she had always wanted to find answers to.

The Salton Sea came immediately to mind.

After she discussed possible research approaches with UCLA anthropology professors Jason De León and Jason Throop, Gutierrez had a concept for a sophisticated anthropological study. The project, which is supported by the UCLA/Keck Humanistic Inquiry Undergraduate Research Program, focuses on how residents of Bombay Beach and Slab City cope with the ecological damage, extreme poverty and limited government support they face — and how they organize in an attempt to overcome those challenges.

“Victoria’s project seeks to understand the experiences of those living on the margins in rural California and how people attempt to build community in places where infrastructure, poverty and climate change work to disrupt social networks,” said De León, who also has a faculty appointment in Chicana and Chicano studies and is a member of the Cotsen Institute of Archeology.

“As we move into a new era of climate change whereby the haves and have-nots differentially experience things like droughts, rising temperatures and other catastrophic environmental events, projects such as Victoria’s will become increasingly important. I applaud her for tackling such an important social issue.”

Victoria Gutierrez

Over the past year, Gutierrez has conducted dozens of interviews with residents and spent weeks living among them, even volunteering at a cooling center — a climate-controlled trailer where locals can escape the oppressive heat.

“I’d do 12-hour shifts, just making sure the air conditioning was on,” she said. “People would come in, and I would get to talk to them for really long periods of time.”

Initially, Gutierrez planned to focus on the role of climate change in the region, but she changed gears when she realized residents were more focused on their efforts to improve their communities. One woman she interviewed was applying for grants to build a park in Bombay Beach.

“I was really inspired by how these people kept wanting to do better for themselves, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles,” said Gutierrez, a political science major and anthropology minor.

Her study also highlights the stark realities of poverty. Many residents told her they had ended up in the area mostly because they had nowhere else to go. She recounted the story of one woman, Belinda, who had been arrested as a teenager and never had access to formal education.

“She is functionally illiterate, has no degree and suffers from severe health conditions,” Gutierrez said. “If she lived in L.A., she’d probably be in far worse conditions. But in Bombay Beach, she’s welcomed and seen as a respectable member of society.”

Victoria Gutierrez

Gutierrez’s study is timely: In January, a judge cleared the way for a long-planned project that will mine large amounts of lithium from the ground beneath the Salton Sea. Lithium is an essential component of electric car batteries, mobile phones and numerous other products, and the region is said to have an enormous supply, so the potential economic benefits are obvious. But the possible ecological consequences, in particular, have worried locals and environmental activists.

“It’s really curious that the first meaningful efforts to clean up the Salton Sea are happening just two years after it was declared the largest domestic deposit of lithium,” Gutierrez said.

And although the communities of the Salton Sea face an unusual set of challenges, Gutierrez said her research has made clear that the region holds lessons for everyone, no matter where they live.

“One of my biggest takeaways is that we’re all a lot closer to being in a situation like Bombay Beach than we think,” she said. “With climate change, wildfires and economic instability, these issues aren’t as far removed as they seem.”

Gutierrez is still deciding what her next steps after graduation will be, but one way or another, she’s determined to continue studying the region. “I love the Salton Sea,” she said. “I feel very lucky that I know what I care about.”

This story was originally published via UCLA Humanities.

2 UCLA Social Science faculty elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Adapted from UCLA Newsroom

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Right to left: Marjorie Harness Goodwin (anthropology) and Jeffrey Lewis (political science).

Distinguished research professor of anthropology Marjorie Harness Goodwin and Professor of Political Science Jeffrey Lewis have been selected to the American Academy of Arts, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies. They are among four UCLA faculty and nearly 250 artists, scholars, scientists and leaders in the public, nonprofit and private sectors chosen for membership this year.

The academy serves as an independent research center convening leaders from across disciplines, professions and perspectives to address significant challenges, with the aim of producing independent and pragmatic studies that inform national and global policy and benefit the public.

They will be inducted in October at the academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Marjorie Harness Goodwin
Distinguished research professor of anthropology

Goodwin, a linguistic anthropologist, focuses on how language, touch and other embodied practices shape human interactions. Her work has examined how members of children’s peer groups, families and workplace groups use everyday language and communication to construct social order, express intimacy and navigate ideas about moral behavior. Through her research and influential books, including “The Hidden Life of Girls,” “He-Said-She-Said” and “Embodied Family Choreography,” Goodwin has helped advance our understanding of human social dynamics and the ways people use their language, their bodies and their emotions to manage relationships and create meaning.

Jeffrey Lewis
Professor of political science

Lewis, a political scientist, investigates foundational questions of democratic representation and develops innovative methods for analyzing political behavior. His research explores how preferences can be deduced from behavior. He is also a leading figure in political methodology, contributing tools that have reshaped how scholars study legislatures and electoral politics. As the curator of Voteview.com — a platform that provides free data and tools for analyzing roll call voting in the U.S. Congress — he helps advance public and scholarly understanding of ideological polarization and legislative behavior. Lewis has served as president of the Society for Political Methodology and as an editor of the American Political Science Review, helping to shape the direction of research in the discipline. Through his empirical rigor and public scholarship, Lewis has played a pivotal role in elevating both the accessibility and sophistication of political science research.

Read American Academy of Arts & Sciences announcement here.

Learn more via UCLA Newsroom coverage here.

UCLA student Mohammed Alharthi is heading to Oxford as a 2025 Rhodes scholar

Alharthi is UCLA’s first international student to win the famed scholarship and the 13th recipient in the university’s history

Mohammed Alharthi in 2022 at a United Nations SDG Summit, an event focused on sustainable development, where he was an “economic growth changemaker.” He wears a traditional Saudi palm tree pin badge.

By Kayla McCormack

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UCLA student Mohammed Alharthi, who will graduate in June 2025 with bachelor’s degrees in political science and mathematics/economics, has been awarded a Rhodes scholarship, widely considered the most prestigious and competitive award for international postgraduate study.

Next fall, Alharthi will join more than 100 other newly minted Rhodes scholars from around the world at the University of Oxford in the U.K., where he plans to pursue master’s degrees in diplomacy and global governance and in financial economics. The scholarship covers all expenses — including tuition, living and travel — for up to three years of study at Oxford.

Alharthi, who is from Saudi Arabia, is the first international student from UCLA to be chosen for the honor and the first UCLA-affiliated scholar selected since 2009. Each year, the Rhodes Trust awards scholarships to young men and women from 26 constituencies representing the U.S. and more than 70 other countries, along with two “global” recipients from countries outside those constituencies. Altharti applied for the scholarship through the Saudi Arabia constituency.

Created in 1902, the Rhodes scholarship supports students who have demonstrated academic excellence, a strong concern for the welfare of others and a commitment to making the world a better place. The program aims to develop public-spirited leaders and to promote global understanding and peace through an international community of scholars.

“I’ve always thought of myself as a public servant who understands his nation and the world,” Alharthi said. “The scholarship provides a passport to form lifetime relationships across the globe with some of the world’s most promising scholars and leaders, as we walk our paths at Oxford.”

At UCLA, Alharthi has immersed himself in campus life. An honors student interested in global policymaking and institution building, he has been active in the work of UCLA Center for Middle East Development and was appointed to the UCLA Academic Senate’s committee on international education by the Undergraduate Students Association Council. He has also served as the operations officer for the Saudi Arabian Students Association on campus.

“The weight of UCLA, with its long list of contributions to humanity, has only fueled the momentum to maximize what I get from this special Bruin moment,” Alharthi said.

Academically, Alharthi’s work as an undergraduate at UCLA has been exceptional, said assistant professor of political science Salma Mousa, who wrote him a letter of recommendation for the Rhodes application.

“Mohammed has designed and implemented an impressive honors thesis — scraping Arabic-language newspapers across the Middle East, using AI tools to analyze the content and sentiment of these articles, and ultimately measuring how foreign investment can shape soft power in the investors’ image,” she said. “In doing so, he is using modern methods to speak to basic questions about political economy in a data-poor region.

“I am thrilled to see Mohammed’s work and character be recognized in this way — a win for UCLA and the Arab world.”

Alharthi has also deepened his understanding of policy and economic development through off-campus study and research opportunities, including internships with international consulting firm McKinsey & Company; the United Nations Secretariat in New York, where he worked on global peace and security initiatives and sustainability issues; and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund. And this year, he co-founded Furas, a startup dedicated to expanding internship opportunities for young Saudis.

Alharthi’s application process was supported by the UCLA Center for Scholarships and Scholar Enrichment, which provides personalized guidance for students applying for competitive awards, including support in crafting applications, interview preparation and identifying funding opportunities.

This article, written by Kayla McCormack, originally appeared in the UCLA Newsroom.