Whitney Phillips | Nieman Journalism Lab

Articles by Whitney Phillips

Whitney Phillips is an assistant professor in communications, culture, and digital technologies at Syracuse University.

Religious-sounding language will be everywhere in 2025

“A great deal of language that looks a lot like Christian Nationalism isn’t actually calling for theocracy; it is secular minoritarianism pushed by secular people, often linked to rightwing cable and other media with zero meaningful ties to the church or theological principle.”

November 7, 2022

The term “White Christian nationalism” is on the rise. Here’s what journalists should know about using it

“A keyword-focused ‘close enough, good enough’ approach to white Christian nationalism risks misdiagnosing problems, muddling solutions, and alienating potentially reachable readers.”

The no-win politics of defending democracy

“This is no-win politics: Fighting back against the anti-democracy faction feeds into anti-democratic attacks — but so does refusing to take up arms.”

Facts are an insufficient response to falsehoods

“When confronted by falsehood, we need to tell the truth, of course, but we need to focus on truths bigger than a fact check: truths about network dynamics, the history of polarization, and the formation of political identity.”

A time to question core beliefs

“Are the things we have always assumed to be true, true? Do the things we have always assumed to work, work? Have they ever, and for whom?”

Our information systems aren’t broken — they’re working as intended

“The media landscape is overrun with toxic narratives and polluted information not because our systems are broken, but because our systems are working.”