Profile avatar
benjamintoff.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota and Director of the Minnesota Journalism Center. I study trust in news, news avoidance, public opinion, and changing media.
55 posts 2,458 followers 786 following
Prolific Poster

The resolution before the Regents would be a disaster. The notion that the MN Journalism Center or other public-facing centers should be barred from making statements about matters of public concern is completely nonsensical. We exist in large part to engage externally on matters of public concern.

Graduate students on Blue Sky have been tracking doctoral science programs that put new admissions on pause or significantly reduced them in light of federal funding uncertainty. The science journal Nature says some offer letters have been yanked: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

📢 We’re hiring! The American Journalism Project is looking for a Head of Strategic Partnerships to grow and diversify our donor base. This senior role will secure transformational gifts and drive major investment in #localnews. Learn more and apply:

There are more than $6 million active National Science Foundation and National Institute of Health research grants in the Twin Ports and Fond du Lac Reservation.

Sales have dropped off sharply at many Lake Street businesses that serve Minneapolis' Latino communities. In today's @axios.com Twin Cities newsletter, more on a sign that an immigration crackdown is having the effect that the Trump administration intends >> www.axios.com/local/twin-c...

Very nice of @markcoddington.bsky.social & @sethclewis.bsky.social to summarise @benjamintoff.bsky.social and my study on the dilemma of AI disclosure 📰🤖 in their RQ1 newsletter

Monday’s weather forecast may be horrifically cold but proud to call this place home

What is the future of AI in news? Looking forward to exploring that w/ @hackshackers.com at their AI x Journalism Summit in May. I'll be speaking about some of my research, but excited to learn from all these other smart people. Early bird tickets available: www.hackshackers.com/join-us-for-...

Great to see @mprnews.org's Reverb featured in @minnpost.bsky.social. And happy to have some of the research we've been doing at the Minnesota Journalism Center included as part of the story. Stay tuned for more on that soon... www.minnpost.com/media/2025/0...

Reading Barnhurst and Nerone’s “The Form of News: A History” and came across this throwback from the @startribune.com

Wonderful news!

As the Trump administration attempts to cut funding for DEI efforts and research, one panelist said "we are going to keep doing this work" with local immigrant communities.

Roper is hiring! A great opportunity for someone who likes data and wants to learn the ins and outs of cleaning, curation, de-identification, transparency requirements in polling while working with an amazing collection of historical data. cornell.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Cornel...

It has been nearly a decade since Hillary Clinton's email server prompted approximately one billion news stories about the importance of cybersecurity practices involving sensitive government data.

USAID’s inspector general—presumably operating from a remote base in the mountains—has just released a report on the staggering effect of the Trump Administration’s assault on the agency. oig.usaid.gov/sites/defaul...

NIH had two tracks for the same fellowship: those from underrepresented backgrounds and those not. Both usually get funds. Rather than merge back to one track to comply with their understanding of executive orders, they essentially rejected without review all the ones on the underrepresented track.

We’re moving rapidly toward Trump and Musk just ignoring what the courts say and Congress letting them do it. It’s journalism that will be the last bulwark...

Seconded

Maybe I’m old fashioned but I think the deeply racist messages this staffer posted were the “disgusting and cruel” part, not the acts of journalism that revealed them.

Just in case you thought that removing DEI criteria would mean that everyone is competing equally: NIH is removing grad students from underrepresented backgrounds from the applicant pool altogether. Their applications will not be considered. Other students, not from these backgrounds, will be.

By ”accelerated” they definitely mean “deteriorated.”

This was one of the best experiences I had as a graduate student. If you know someone who is on the fence about this, encourage them to apply.

Journalists, come be with your people at #NICAR25. Our annual data journalism conference is March 6-9 in Minneapolis. Learn new skills, make connections and join a community that here is to support you. www.ire.org/training/con...

Hiring 2-year postdoc @upjohninstitute.bsky.social. Great for someone with FSRDC experience & interest in early childhood care & education labor markets. Work with me @gabriellepepin.bsky.social @jborowsky.bsky.social + others. #econ_ra #econsky #policysky www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing....

The Internet Archive has to date downloaded 500 terabytes of US government websites, which it crawls at the end of every presidential term. The whole archive is fully searchable. This effort's housed by a donation-funded nonprofit, not a branch of the US government. blog.archive.org/2024/05/08/e...

This is a big deal, y'all. Federal health websites are being stripped of content or removed in their entirety. Stick with this thread for a look at what's disappeared so far! 1/x

i think it is important to say that the open and explicit racism of the president and the vice president isn’t just uncouth or “controversial” but a direct attack on tens of millions of americans and a dereliction of their duty to represent the entire country

Helpful resources 👇 for those considering a move north, which I highly recommend!

Reupping this Call for Papers for a special issue of IJOC. Just over three months to go. Please share in your networks.

many commenters on this site criticizing press coverage of Trump's blizzard of disruptive actions (too soft, obfuscates responsibility, etc) surely much of this is valid BUT consider: fewer & fewer ppl consuming fact-based, fact-checked journalism. Much much much much much much much bigger problem

“That’s probably what you ought to do when you’re coming in as a new administration” is a disingenuous argument & should be challenged as such. They just had a whole presidential transition to plan, scrutinize (plus many years preparing). This freezing of the fed government is a power grab. Period.

Agreed! Recommend this call to action by @taliastroud.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... (which clearly not enough people have paid ATTENTION to) and also this for some cool research designs looking at effects of "passive exposure" academic.oup.com/joc/article/...

Please help us get the word out about these travel grants for #CIA25! Especially to junior scholars from non-Tier A countries!

Join us for - AI Hackathon: Making Local Civic Information More Accessible in Minnesota Communities When: Jan. 31 & Feb. 1 Where: Murphy Hall, UMN campus Who should attend: Anyone who cares about how communities share, access & assess information Free but please RSVP: z.umn.edu/hacks-hackers

Please repost! We’re trying hard to sort out rumors from truth + would like to hear from anyone affected by the new federal orders + NIH pause. Patients, scientists, health equity researchers: please contact us below. We won’t share anything without your permission. www.statnews.com/2025/01/25/t...

SAD! Reporters and other journos who don't attend the @mnspj annual winter mixer on Feb. 5 will miss out on their free drink ticket at St. Paul's own Lake Monster: www.eventbrite.com/e/mnspj-wint...

New article just published in Journalism Practice led by @hubbardschoolumn.bsky.social grad student extraordinaire @cydneygrannan.bsky.social (and co-authored with the amazing @kesearles.bsky.social) www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

This is indeed the challenge. And too often journalists think their professional identity automatically entitles them to their own “aura of credibility.” But cultivating that aura takes work. It isn’t conferred necessarily on the basis of the rigor of the journalism, which rarely speaks for itself.

We're down to the wire here, but the UW Center for an Informed Public is taking applications for (2) postdoctoral scholars. Review starts very soon. For more info about these positions, including qualifications & instructions for applying: Read more: lnkd.in/g6q_spek Job posting: lnkd.in/gJ7x5Zwk

Good opportunity at Minnpost for someone looking to start out in visual journalism. www.minnpost.com/careers/2025...

Some communities are bracing for potential mass deportations and the impact they may have on schools as a new Trump administration nears power. It’s especially concerning in small-town districts like St. James and Butterfield, where most of the kids are Latino.

Looking forward to Eric’s podcast series!

A newly unearthed ad from the @mndaily.bsky.social archives suggests Bob Dylan may have worked there in his brief time at the U of M. Or at least he used a typewriter while on campus. www.startribune.com/was-bob-dyla...

Save the date! Annie is a Hubbard School alum and trailblazing photographer. Join us in April! #UMNProud