Birkland received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Washington in 1995. Birkland’s work focuses more on how disasters change media and politics to determine what is perceived to be important topics. Birkland has numerous books and scholarly articles publications shining light on social media’s power on public opinions on a variety of topics. Like Birkland, Todd M. Schaefer is interested in how crises, such as the events of 9/11/01, are portrayed by the media, and their influence on politics and society.