State of Emergency Conference

Freedom & Democracy at the Crossroads

Friday Oct. 16^th – Saturday Oct. 17^th

8:30 am – 4:30 pm, Pyle Center

The October 2026 “State of Emergency Conference brings together some of the world’s foremost scholars & thinkers on the state of democracy in the United States and the role of communication in building & destroying governments’ provision of equal say, equal rights, & well-being for all.

The conference will feature a keynote by Dr. Lance Bennett (University of Washington). Panels will focus on research covering a wide range of topics, including local news, public trust, artificial intelligence, intolerance, racial dialogues, identity groups, emotions, Big Tech, opinion leadership, research methods, and public support for democracy & science.

The conference is supported by the John S. & James L. Knight Foundation & the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

About CCCR & its Conferences

The Center for Communication and Civic Renewal (CCCR) is an interdisciplinary research center that aims to understand public opinion and the broad political communication ecology of Wisconsin and beyond through a wide range of social science methods, including ethnographic fieldwork, public opinion surveys, computational analysis of social media and news content, and contextual modeling.

CCCR organizes a big conference every two years featuring top political communication scholars from around the country.

Past conferences:

• 2024: Local News in American Civic Life Symposium
• 2022: Renewing Civic Life In Wisconsin: Fulfilling the Legacy of Bill Kraus
• 2020: Fracturing Democracy: The Erosion of Civil Society in a Shifting Communication Ecology Symposium
• 2018: The Politics of Contention: Communication, Populism and the Crisis of Democracy Symposium.

Conference Schedule & Presentations

Thursday, Oct. 15^th

7:00 – 9:00 pm Dinner @ Turn Key Supper Club (1344 E. Washington Ave, Madison, WI)

Friday, Oct. 16^th

8:30 – 9:15 am Breakfast & Welcome (Pyle Center, PC Pre-function/South – 2^nd Floor)

Traditional Breakfast Buffet: Scrambled eggs, assorted bakery items, bacon OR sausage; Fruit juice, coffee, tea

9:30 – 10:30 Keynote Speaker Lance Bennett + Q&A

Lance Bennett, “The Neutrality Trap: AI and the Future of Democracy” Abstract.

10 – 12 Coffee, tea, soda, & sparkling water available

10:45 – 12:15 Morning Panel: Democratic Resilience Beyond ‘Polarization’ Abstracts.

Lilliana Mason, “Nobody Wants This: The Disproportionate Power of an Insurgent Faction of Intolerant Americans.”

Jeff Niederdeppe, “Rigorous & Replicated Communication Science to Challenge Conventional Wisdom about Race and Public Policy.”

Jianing Li, “Affective Evaluation Networks: Charting the Interdependence of Affects Toward Identity Groups in Communication.”

Jaime Settle, “Using Local Media to Study Agentic Processes of Subnational Authoritarianism & Democratic Erosion in the United States.”

Dannagal Young, “Individual Well-Being and Democratic Health: The Mediating Role of Self-Uncertainty on Support for Democracy.”

12:15 – 1:15 Lunch Buffet

                  Sandwiches, soup/salad, cookies

1:30 – 5:00 Coffee, tea, soda, water, & sparkling water available

1:15 – 2:45 Early Afternoon Panel: News & the Changing Public Sphere. Abstracts.

Danielle Brown, “What If Trust Is The Problem?”

Stephanie Edgerly, “Hope and Action: What Positive News Can (and Can’t) Do.”

Erik Bucy, “When Reality Pushes Back: Narrative Politics and Citizen Witnessing.”

Dominik Stecula, “Ambient Politics in the Post-Institutional Public Sphere.”

Stuart Soroka, “Tracing the Proliferation of Polarizing News Content.”

3 – 4:30 Late Afternoon Panel: Technology & the Reordering of Knowledge & Power Abstracts.

Dave Karpf, “Silicon Valley’s Reactionary Turn.”

Erika Franklin Fowler, “Drastic Cuts, Delayed Ramifications, and Democratic Needs: Assessing Strategies to Bolster Support for Science and the Promise of Public Goods.”

Yini Zhang, “An AI-Saturated Political Communication Environment? Elite Production, News Amplification, and Public Perception.”

Rebekah Tromble, “Self-Censorship among U.S. Scholars: Preliminary Evidence from Two Surveys.”

Fil Menczer, “AI Good vs. Evil.”

3 – 5 Afternoon snacks available

                  Bagels w/ cream cheese, granola bars

6:00 – 8:00 pm: Dinner @ Merchant (121 S. Pinckney St, Madison, WI)

Saturday, Oct. 17^th

8:30 – 9:30 am Continental Breakfast Buffet (PC Pre-function/South – 2^nd Floor)

                  Assorted bakery items, yogurt, fresh fruit

Fruit juice, coffee, tea

10 – 12 Coffee, tea, soda, & sparkling water available

9:30 – 11:00 Morning Panel – New CCCR Projects: Methodological, Measurement, and Theoretical Advancements Abstracts.

Andrew Trexler, “Measuring Untapped Demand for Accessible Public Interest News.”

Yoo Ji Suh, “From Blame to Gridlock: Estimating Media Effects Through Content–Survey Integration.”

Luhang Sun, “Beyond Silicon Samples: Predicting Voter Choice via Micro-Alignment of AI Digital Twins.”

Sean Pauley, “U.S. Latino Television Repertoires.”

Chris Wells, “Varieties of Cultural Experience: How Taste & Daily Life Relate to Political Attitudes & Involvement.”

12:00 – 1:00 Box Lunches

                  Sandwiches, red potato salad, muffins

1 – 5 Coffee, tea, soda, water, & sparkling water available

1:00 – 2:15 Unconference Sessions #1 and #2 TBD

2:30 – 3:45 Unconference Sessions #3 and #4 TBD

4:00 – 4:30 “Emergency Response”: Major Themes, Collaborations, and Next Steps (Michael W. Wagner and Dhavan V. Shah)

7:00 – 9:00 pm: Dinner @ Lucille (101 King St, Madison, WI)