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SMPA's Robert Entman Wins Prestigious Humboldt Prize
Entman is World’s First Political Communications Scholar to Receive Award
WASHINGTON – Robert Entman, J.B. and M.C. Shapiro Professor of Media and Public Affairs and professor of international affairs at the George Washington University, has won the prestigious international Alexander von Humboldt Research Award for his field-changing contributions to political communication. Dr. Entman is the world's first political communication scholar and the first from GW to receive this award, and he will work at the Free University of Berlin for the majority of 2012. While in Germany, he will conduct comparative research in order to better understand how inequality has grown faster in the United States than in Western Europe.
"I am delighted to be the first Humboldt Award recipient recognized for contributions to political communication scholarship," said Dr. Entman. "I appreciate this acknowledgment of the media's fundamental role in shaping politics and democracy."
Dr. Entman's award-winning research focuses on media framing and bias and the media's influence on foreign policy, race relations and other important areas of American politics. His 1993 conceptualization of framing has been cited in thousands of scholarly works. Dr. Entman will release a new book in March 2012 entitled Scandal and Silence: Media Responses to Presidential Misconduct. Using a series of recent case studies, he argues against the commonly-held view that media eagerly work themselves into "feeding frenzies" over sex scandals and other wrong-doings by top politicians.
"The GW Columbian College of Arts and Sciences prides itself on a long tradition of excellence, and Bob Entman's scholarship is a testament to that tradition," said Peg Barratt, dean of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. "I congratulate him on reaching this level of lifetime distinction in the field of political communication."
Entman received two other honors this year. Dr. Entman's 2004 book, Projections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion and U.S. Foreign Policy, won the 2011 Doris Graber Book Award from the political communication section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). He also will receive the 2011 Wayne A. Danielson Award for Distinguished Contributions to Communication Scholarship, given annually to one scholar by the Jesse H. Jones College of Communication at the University of Texas. Dr. Entman also received the Woolbert Research Prize from the National Communication Association (NCA), the Murray Edelman Distinguished Career Achievement Award in Political Communication (APSA) and an NCA Distinguished Scholar award.
"It's extremely fitting that Robert Entman was chosen for this award," said Frank Sesno, director of the School of Media and Public Affairs. "His trailblazing research is without peer in the political communication landscape, and his impact on other researchers and students has changed the way people study issue framing, media bias and political communication topics. We at the School of Media and Public Affairs are proud to count Bob among our ranks."
Among his other recognitions are the Woolbert Research Prize from the National Communication Association (NCA); the Murray Edelman Distinguished Career Achievement Award in Political Communication (APSA); and an NCA Distinguished Scholar award. The Black Image in the White Mind: Media and Race in America, his 2000 book written with Andrew Rojecki, won Harvard University's Goldsmith Book Prize, the Frank Luther Mott Award for best book in Mass Communication, the APSA Robert E. Lane Award for best book in political psychology, and other prizes.
Dr. Entman co-edits the book series Communication, Society and Politics for the Cambridge University Press. He lectures frequently at universities in the U.S. and abroad, most recently Zhejiang University (China), the University of Vienna, the University of Porto (Portugal) and the University of the Andes (Bogota). He served as the Lombard Visiting Professor at Harvard for the fall semester of 1997, visiting professor of communication at the University of Rome during May 2005 and Visiting Professor of Public Policy at Duke for the academic year 2008-09.
Dr. Entman earned a Ph.D. in political science as a National Science Foundation Fellow at Yale, and an M.P.P. in public policy analysis from the University of California (Berkeley). He is also a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Duke University, where he earned his B.A. in political science.
The School of Media and Public Affairs (SMPA) is dedicated to the rigorous study of journalism and political communication with a focus on understanding the impact media have on how societies inform and govern, connect and communicate. As media undergo transformational change, SMPA's goal is to advance both theoretical insight and innovative practice. SMPA conducts ground-breaking research, offers inspiring teaching, encourages hands-on work in the field and in our production facilities and engages directly with thought-leaders in Washington, D.C. and around the world.
To learn more about GW's School of Media and Public Affairs, visit smpa.gwu.edu or follow SMPA on Twitter.
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