Allison Becker

Allison Becker

Degree: 2015, M.A. Urban Affairs & Public Policy

Job Title: Research Assistant, Pew Research Center

Allison Becker (M.A. '15, B.A. '13) works at Pew Research Center as a research assistant on The Journalism Project. The Journalism Project is dedicated to studying the health of the U.S. news industry, how it affects the America public, and in turn, how the public responds. Pew's Journalism Project is the premier media research institution in the U.S. and its work is used by virtually every public, private, nonprofit and citizen group in understanding how the U.S. media system works. Becker's appointment at Pew demonstrates her prodigious capacities in media research and public policy.​

Becker developed a deep passion for public policy during her time as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware. In her senior year, she began studying the nexus between public policy, citizenship, and the news media. During her time in SPPA, she worked on a number of research projects which examined media ownership policies and the effect that they have on local news content. She specializes in content analysis, which turns qualitative observations into quantitative data points. In addition to media ownership projects, Becker 's work also focused on exposing the link among money, political ads, and local television news content. Her thesis examined how local news meets citizens' critical information needs.

After graduating from the University of Delaware, Becker published her thesis as a research monograph and filed her work as public comment at the Federal Communications Commission. Becker, and co-author Danilo Yanich, were asked to give a presentation of their work at the Federal Communications Commission, in addition to meeting with Chairman Wheeler's senior counsel and Commissioner Clyburn's office. They have been asked to expand the research and are currently looking for resources to do so.  An academic article based on this research was submitted for publication in August 2016.

Becker grew up in Wayne, NJ and now resides in Washington, D.C. She attributes much of her success to her family, which is filled with strong, brilliant female role models and a wonderful father who somehow puts up with them all.