Scott Brennen

Scott Brennen2018-10-11T15:10:25+00:00

Dr. J. Scott Brennen is a communication scholar and a postdoctoral research fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism and the Computational Propaganda Project. His work investigates how changing media structures, cultures, and technologies are shaping the production and circulation of scientific information and scientific misinformation. He currently works on the Oxford Martin Programme on Misinformation, Science, and Media, which examines the interplay between scientific misinformation, news coverage, and social media platforms for the public understanding of science and technological innovation.

Scott completed his doctorate at the School of Media and Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2018. His dissertation investigated media coverage of and media practices of direct detection of dark matter research collaborations in order to better understand how public information about new scientific research flows through the contemporary media environment. The project leveraged tools and insights from science and technology studies and media theory to trace how organizational and technological mediators of public science translate, move, preserve, and deconstruct information about scientific research.

Before pursing his doctorate, Scott received a Master of Arts in mass communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry from Grinnell College. He also served in the U.S. Peace Corps as a high school chemistry teacher in northern Mozambique. He has published work in various outlets including Communication Theory, Journalism, Journalism Studies, and Science in Context.