Dr. Anya Schiffrin introduces her Columbia research on NYC influencers

Thank you very much.

This is my first hearing ever in my life, so I just want to make sure I understand.

I have written testimony.

I was not expecting to answer questions.

Is there time for me to do both, read my written testimony?

Yes.

I have a long list of questions for you here, so go right ahead.

Okay, here we go.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to submit written testimony about my forthcoming paper, Mapping New York City Influencers and the Funding of Public Messaging.

A working paper version, which is 11,000 words, is already available online.

I am Dr.

Anya Shiffrin, Senior Lecturer in Discipline at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, and I'm the author of this working paper.

The final version will be published as a policy brief by the Tao Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University.

We're having an event on October 19th to launch the paper.

I think it will be open to the public.

I've devoted much of my academic career to the study of information ecosystems.

I have long been preoccupied with questions about how citizens can receive quality information and what the obstacles are to receiving that information.

I've edited three volumes on media capture.

I've written a PhD dissertation on policies to address mis- and disinformation.

I've studied government policies to support journalism, and I've made recommendations on how government and philanthropy can support the provision of quality information while respecting editorial independence and press freedom.

Over the years, I've organized many conferences bringing together government officials from all over the world with philanthropists, and I do believe that on the subject that...

that we're tackling today, there is a huge amount that can be learned from Canada, from the European Union, and from other countries.

And at the end of my testimony, I have two pages of comparative policies.

So I think there's a lot that we can be talking about apart from the signal group.