Data dependencies and funding prospects: A 1930s cautionary tale

Abstract

Misinformation studies relies, to some extent, on access to data from large technology firms, which also seed grants, sponsor events, and support think tanks working in the field. These companies, facing scrutiny from regulators and critics, have a stake in their portrayal. This essay recounts a pair of episodes in early radio research, as a cautionary tale. The Princeton Radio Research Project, the leading U.S. media research program of the 1930s, had multiple ties to the radio industry. The project’s leadership, and its main philanthropic sponsor, were keen to maintain good relations with the networks. A pair of critical researchers, James Rorty and Theodor Adorno, violated the project’s de facto ban on scrutinizing radio’s commercial underpinnings. They were both dismissed. Could ongoing access to data, and the prospect of future funding, lead today’s researchers—and even other, non-corporate patrons—to conclude that certain questions are too incendiary to pose?