Jennifer R. Henrichsen

Jennifer R. Henrichsen is an assistant professor at the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University. A former Fulbright Research Scholar, Henrichsen holds a PhD from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Henrichsen is the research director of the Washington Local News Ecosystem Project and an Affiliated Fellow at both the Information Society Project at Yale Law School and the Media, Inequality, and Change Center, a joint initiative of the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University. She is also an Alumni Affiliate of the Center for Media at Risk at the University of Pennsylvania. As a journalism studies scholar within the field of communication, Henrichsen explores how malicious actors use technology to undermine democratic systems by eroding trust in knowledge systems and attacking journalism. She also investigates strategies to strengthen journalists’ resilience in the face of democratic backsliding and rising political polarization. Her work has resulted in more than 30 publications, including three books and 11 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Digital Journalism and the International Journal of Communication. Her latest book is National Security, Journalism, and Law in an Age of Information Warfare (Oxford University Press, 2024). She previously was a consultant to UNESCO where she produced global reports on the state of journalism. Henrichsen has received 10 fellowships, including from Yale and Columbia, and her research has been profiled in outlets such as The New York Times, Nieman Lab, and Columbia Journalism Review. Henrichsen is a global expert in her field as evidenced by 80 presentations and invited lectures across North America, Europe, and Asia. 

Henrichsen’s project, “Assessing Local Journalism Fellowships to Reduce Political Polarization,” examines new policy interventions aimed at bolstering local news to determine how they may decrease political polarization. This project will assess embedded civic reporters’ impact on increasing critical information content and decreasing nationalized content; how increased civic affairs content contributes to news audiences’ civic engagement and participation; and how this content affects subscribers’ perceived trust in media and their attitudes toward affective polarization.