The decline of the legacy media started long before the Internet, but the Internet exposed a business model that relied too heavily on the wrong customers. This paper argues that subscription might be the only viable business model for digital media in the long run, but a small circulation might be large enough to make news outlets sustainable. Small is beautiful.
Small is Beautiful Read More »
The New Media Propaganda Wars and the Value of a Second Draft Read the paper A new paper by James Harkin, Joan Shorenstein Fellow (Fall, 2018) and Director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism in London explores current debates about online disinformation through the prism of Syria reporting and a single incident – a heavily
Understanding Douma Read More »
Every era and every new medium — print, radio, television, cable, and the Internet — has found news essential to building and keeping audience. What does news on streaming, direct-to-consumer, and social look like — and what it could look like in the future?
Privacy Design Forecast 2019 is a collection of design concepts illustrating how designers, researchers, and engineers are improving data privacy experiences in products around the world.
Privacy Design Forecast 2019 Read More »
In March 2019, two projects at Harvard Kennedy School—the Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project at the Belfer Center and the Platform Accountability Project at the Shorenstein Center—hosted a workshop for Congressional staff to identify and discuss policy approaches to the dilemmas of big tech platforms.
Big Tech and Democracy: The Critical Role of Congress Read More »
By Roderick P. Hart, Fall 2018 Shorenstein Fellow and Shivers Chair in Communication and Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin This essay is forthcoming as part of a special symposium on Campaign 2016 to be published in the Fall edition of Presidential Studies Quarterly. Download a PDF copy of this paper here. Introduction It
Assessing Campaign Quality: Was the 2016 Presidential Campaign a Travesty? Read More »
Gibbs is the former editor in chief of Time and former editorial director of the Time Inc. News Group. “Nancy Gibbs is an extremely thoughtful and respected voice about the evolving role of the media in politics and society,” said Harvard Kennedy School Dean Douglas Elmendorf.
Nancy Gibbs Appointed Faculty Director of the Shorenstein Center Read More »
Download the PDF of this paper here. Introduction The major digital platform companies present a large, complicated array of benefits and problems for the country and the world. The companies increasingly have the attention of both average citizens and senior-most public officials as befit entities that have achieved great—perhaps even paramount—influence in political, social, and
Platform Accountability: An Interim Measure Read More »
Garrett Graff is a journalist, historian, director of the Aspen Institute’s Cybersecurity and Technology Program, and author of The Threat Matrix, the definitive account of Robert Mueller’s time as head of the FBI. In this episode of the Shorenstein Center’s podcast, he talks about the Mueller Investigation: what we know, what we still don’t know,
Garrett Graff: Decoding the Mueller Investigation Read More »
With trust in federal government and institutions at historic lows, local governments, including cities and counties, must play a critical role in the 2020 Census. If we don’t get the census right, there is so much we are at risk of getting wrong – the implications of which will last for years.
Can Cities Save the Census? A Local Framework for Our Nation’s First Digital Count Read More »
James Bennet, Editorial Page Editor for the New York Times talked about the role of opinion writing in today’s news ecosystem with former TIME Magazine Editor and Shorenstein Center faculty member Nancy Gibbs. Thanks to the Forum Network at WGBH for recording this talk.
What’s the Point of Publishing Opinion, Anyway? Read More »
The 2020 U.S. Census will, for the first time since 1950, ask about residents’ citizenship status. The effect of doing so on census completion across different racial/ethnic groups is, however, unknown. Leveraging a survey experiment, we are the first to assess the causal effect of this question change.
Estimating the Effect of Asking About Citizenship on the U.S. Census Read More »
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is a Harvard Kennedy School research center dedicated to exploring and illuminating the intersection of press, politics and public policy in theory and practice. The Center strives to bridge the gap between journalists and scholars, and between them and the public.
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