Danilo Yanich
Professor, Biden School of Public Policy and Administration | University of Delaware
Newark, DE, UNITED STATES
Prof. Yanich's research centers on the media and its intersection with citizenship, public policy and crime, as well as media ownership.
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Biography
Danilo Yanich, Ph.D. (University of Delaware, 1980) is a Professor in the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration. He was the Director of the M.A. degree program in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from 2006 to 2023. He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps. In 2003 and again in 2004, Dr. Yanich was appointed a Presidential Fellowship attending the Salzburg Seminars entitled, respectively, "Professional Ethics of the News Media" and "Ethics in News Reporting and Editing," held in Salzburg, Austria. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters. His research focuses on the relationship of media, citizenship and public policy, specifically political communication, media ownership and crime and justice. His book, entitled Buying Reality: Political Ads, Money and Local Television News, was published by Fordham University Press in April 2020. His research has been widely used and cited by media policy makers, journalists and advocates regarding media consolidation and content. His new research uses big data techniques to examine that relationship on a national scale. Dr. Yanich teaches graduate courses in research design and methodologies; urban society and public policy; media, citizenship, and public policy.
Industry Expertise (3)
Public Policy
Media - Online
Media - Broadcast
Areas of Expertise (5)
Media
Media Ownership
Media, Citizenship and Public Policy
Policy Analysis
Urban Society
Media Appearances (7)
Unmasking the Local TV Station Monopolies
The American Prospect online
2024-01-11
In interviews with the Prospect, University of Delaware professor Danilo Yanich explained that while service agreements are valid under current FCC regulations, the impact of the coordination DirecTV is challenging is evident throughout the industry.
Plus de 9 G$ pour mobiliser un nombre record d’électeurs américains
CBC/Radio-Canada
2022-11-04
Danilo Yanich, professeur en affaires urbaines et politique publique à l’Université du Delaware, explique ces dépenses par les majorités précaires observées au Congrès depuis les années 90.
Buying Reality: Political Ads, Money and Local Television News
ANZASA Online
2020-10-26
Even in the age of the Internet, political ads on local television are the most important way candidates in the United States convey their messages. That has been true for a half of a century. Political campaigns in the U.S. are based on money—a lot of it. The estimated cost of the 2020 election is $11 billion, up from $9.8 billion in 2016.
Is your political reality purchased? | UDaily
University of Delaware online
2020-05-19
UD Prof. Danilo Yanich explores TV ads, money, news and election outcomes.
As news ownership consolidates, will local TV become more partisan?
Christian Science Monitor online
2018-07-13
Sinclair’s proposed merger is symptomatic of a larger trend, says Danilo Yanich, professor of urban affairs and public policy at the University of Delaware, who has been tracking Sinclair and the larger consolidation movement for a decade. As he sees it, the politics involved are in some ways a distraction.
Rieder: Political ads overwhelm news on local TV
USA Today online
2015-03-19
"There's no way for a citizen to make his way through the bombardment and onslaught (of political ads) and make an informed decision," says the study's author, Danilo Yanich, a professor at the University of Delaware.
In Philadelphia, the Internet Archive is assembling a new way to monitor campaigns on TV
NiemanLab online
2014-07-01
Danilo Yanich is an associate professor at the University of Delaware interested in how political ad buys influence and inform news coverage in local television (and, ultimately, policy). In his past work, he and his students have watched and coded over 30,000 hours of local television.
Articles (5)
Local television political advertising and the manufacturing of political reality
Society2020 With so much media attention on the presidential campaign, how do voters learn about candidates and elections for other offices? On local TV news, political ads create the reality of local races—a reality that is not meant to inform voters but to persuade them. Voters are left to their own devices to fill in the space between what the ads say—the bought reality—and what political stories used to cover.
Framing social determinants of health within the professional public health community: Research translation and implications for policy change
Journal of Applied Communication Research2016 Despite what experts know about the importance of social determinants of health (SDOH), poor health is generally understood by the public as an individual problem ameliorated through lifestyle and/or healthcare. To remedy this knowledge gap and promote policy change, public health professionals are investing in media advocacy to raise public awareness about SDOH and promote collective responsibility for health improvement.
Same ol’, Same ol’: Consolidation and Local Television News
The Communication Crisis in America, And How to Fix It2016 The consolidation of local television stations in the USA has reached epic proportions and takes two forms: outright station purchases and the implementation of shared service agreements among stations within the same market. This research is directed at answering the crucial questions that the Federal Communications Commission and the US Department of Justice have raised about the impact of service agreements on the content of local news in eight markets where such agreements exist.
Local TV, localism, and service agreements
Journal of Media Economics2015 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) uses three principles to regulate the broadcast industry in the United States: competition, diversity, and localism. The least studied of which is localism. As the management and ownership of local TV stations becomes more consolidated, the author examines what effect, if any, that consolidation has on the presentation of local content on television newscasts.
Duopoly light? Service agreements and local TV
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly2014 The United States is in the middle of a debate about media ownership with clear lines of demarcation. The industry claims that regulation is burdensome, unnecessary, and disruptive of market mechanisms. Media reformers counter that relying only on the market can be detrimental to the public interest. This research revealed that service agreements among stations in the same television market have a profound effect on the content of local TV news as station managers and owners achieve economies of scale in the use of anchors, reporters, scripts, and graphics/video.
Research Grants (1)
Assessing the Delocalization of Local TV News Via Computational and Data-Intensive Methods
James L. Knight Foundation
Grants in 2021 and 2022.
Education (3)
University of Delaware: PhD, Urban Affairs & Public Policy 1980
The Pennsylvania State University: MA, Psychosocial Processes 1975
Albright College: BA, International Affairs 1968
Affiliations (4)
- Urban Affairs Association
- International Communications Association
- American Association of University Professors
- The American Academy for the Advancement of Slavic Studies
Links (4)
Languages (2)
- English
- Serbian (conversational)
Event Appearances (9)
Repackaging Reality: TV News Duplication in Local Places
2023 Local Journalism Researchers’ Workshop, Hussman School of Journalism & Media University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Presentation: Buying Reality in the United States
(2022) Zoom presentation to the 20th Annual International Conference on Communication and Mass Media Athens Institute for Education and Research, Athens
Paper presentation: The Media & the City
(2022) Annual Conference of the Northeast Political Science Association Boston, MA
Presentation: War in Ukraine: What is the Story?
(2022) Zoom presentation to the 16th Annual Conference on Global Studies: Business, Economic, Political, Social and Cultural Aspects Athens Institute for Education and Research. Athens
The Power of Political Ads: Buying Reality During Elections
(2020) Rutgers School of Public Affairs and Administration Online
Political Communication, Political Ads and the Election
(2020) Shippensburg University Online
Emotional Breakdown: The Psychology of Partisanship
(2019) Annual Conference of the Northeast Political Science Association Philadelphia, PA
Local Journalism Research Conference
(2019) DeWitt Wallace Center for Media & Democracy Durham, NC
Political Ads, News & Political Communication in Local Places
(2018) Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies Berkeley, CA
