About the Shorenstein Center

The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is a Harvard Kennedy School research center dedicated to increasing understanding of how people access, create, and process information, particularly as it relates to news and societal issues, and describing potential solutions to the problems facing our information ecosystem.

The Center advances its mission of protecting the information ecosystem and supporting healthy democracy by addressing the twin crises of trust and truth that face communities around the world. It pursues this work through academic research, teaching, a program of visiting fellows, conferences, and other initiatives.

To learn more about the Shorenstein Center, visit the pages dedicated to our research projects, history, director and staff, and the fellows, faculty, courses and events that enliven the academic year.

Center Leadership

Nancy Gibbs, Edward R. Murrow Professor of Practice at the Kennedy School, is the Shorenstein Center’s faculty Director. She leads the strategic and academic focus for the Center. From 2013-2017 she was Editor in Chief of TIME, the first woman to hold the position. She directed news and feature coverage across all platforms for more than 65 million readers worldwide, and served as Editorial Director of the Time Inc. News Group. During her three decades at TIME, she was the author of more cover stories than any writer in TIME’s near-100 year history, including the black-bordered “September 11” special issue, which won the National Magazine Award in 2002.  Learn more about Professor Gibbs on her HKS Faculty page.

 

photograph of Laura ManleyLaura Manley is the Center’s Executive Director. Laura is an experienced leader in higher education and non-governmental organizations, with over a decade of experience using data and technology for the health of democratic societies. She was most recently Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs’ Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project at Harvard Kennedy School, and previously co-founded the Center for Open Data Enterprise (CODE), and served as Senior Consultant for the World Bank Group and the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs.

 

Advisory Board

The Center’s Advisory Board include prominent leaders in journalism, academia, and policy. Find the full list of our Advisory Board here. 

Faculty and Staff

The Center’s affiliated and resident faculty members, along with research staff, lead and execute the core of the Center’s research mission, supported by the administrative and programmatic staff. Learn more about the people at the Shorenstein Center here. 

Research Projects

The Center’s research work is generated by our six main research projects. You can learn more about them and their work here.

History

Joan ShorensteinThe Shorenstein Center was founded in 1986, but its roots can be traced back to the early days of the John F. Kennedy School of Government. The Kennedy School has been singular in declaring its mission to be teaching and research plus engagement with the real world, something that sets it apart. Early on, leaders at the School recognized that engagement with the press should be part of the School’s focus.

Read a full history of the Center’s creation and early years.