Despite increasing enthusiasm for political deliberation as a rejuvenating tonic for representative democracy, some theorists question the extent to which deliberative forums adequately incorporate diverse individuals and communication styles. Unfortunately, the theoretical debate between the deliberative theory and the ''difference critique'' has reached an impasse. To advance this important literature, we derive two formal propositions from each perspective and test these rival claims in the context of the jury system, the most prominent institutionalized deliberative practice in the United States. Surveys of over 3,000 jurors who served in local courthouses indicate that gender and other demographic differences are poor predictors of jurors' satisfaction with their service experience, including their perceptions of deliberation. The study also shows that emotion-a dimension of deliberative experience presumed to be gendered-is important for both men and women. On balance, the results call into question the power of the difference critique, at least in the context of modern jury deliberation.

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Social media use has become essential for journalists. Although previous research has explored how journalists use social media, less is known about how journalism and mass communication programs incorporate social media in their coursework. Based on our survey of 323 students and 125 faculty in American universities, this study offers a comparative analysis of social media use among journalism faculty and students, both personally and in coursework. Faculty and students in our sample report using Facebook more frequently for personal reasons, whereas Twitter is the main platform required by faculty members for class assignments. We also found that students' majors and faculty's experience in the industry influenced not only how they evaluated the utility of social media in coursework but also how they utilized various platforms in classes.

For communication instructors charged with safely and constructively educating students, incorporating social media in communication coursework presents a variety of problems. Among them are how to grade social media and how to respond to students’ social media mistakes, knowing these mistakes and corrections could follow students into their careers. This project surveyed journalism faculty ( n = 125) and students ( n = 323) to learn how each assess the challenges and opportunities of using social media in journalism coursework. Both groups expressed concerns about privacy, but faculty were also concerned about the legal consequences of students making mistakes publicly online.

Over time, research on the 'immigrant press' in the communication field has been subsumed by other theoretical concepts, particularly 'ethnic' and 'transnational' media. This article reevaluates the relevance of the 'immigrant press' as a theoretically distinct concept as articulated by Park in his foundational book The Immigrant Press and its Control. Drawing on 27 interviews with editors, journalists, and publishers in three areas of the United States with different immigration histories and profiles, we conclude Park's defining characteristics of the immigrant press -an emphasis on the specificity of the first-generation immigrant's experience, serving as a cultural and civic translator while facilitating national identity, and being an aid to assimilation -are all applicable today, more so than the major themes expressed in literature on ethnic and transnational media.