A paper by Steven Guanpeng Dong, spring 2010 fellow, takes an in‐depth look at the media policy that altered events that happened in China in 2008 and the impact these events had on the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Chinese authorities’ attitude towards the media, especially international press, greatly changed as the […]
A paper by Robert J. Blendon, Sc.D., Shorenstein Center faculty affiliate, and John M. Benson, M.A. analyzes public opinion about the Affordable Care Act, by comparing the public’s response to the Clinton health plan in the final months of the 1994 debate to perceptions about the 2008-2009 reform debate. The report concludes that “Americans’ impressions
The American Public and the Next Phase of the Health Care Reform Debate Read More »
A paper by Marion R. Fremont‐Smith, Shorenstein Center faculty affiliate, examines whether nonprofit, tax‐exempt status might be a feasible option for some newspapers experiencing financial difficulties. Legal precedents, including IRS rulings, dating to the 1960s have held that this was not possible. This paper argues that the economic situation of the newspaper industry warrants reconsideration
Can Nonprofits Save Journalism? Legal Constraints and Opportunities Read More »
A paper by Michael W. Traugott, spring 2009 fellow, details the problematic rise of the “poll of polls,” an average of other organizations’ recent data rather than new information gathered by the news organization itself. This paper reviews how polling has changed in recent decades, compares CNN’s polling from 2004 to its polling in 2008,
A paper by Mitchell Stephens, spring 2009 fellow, argues that as major news events now appear fast and free on Google, Yahoo or a hundred other websites, “stenographic recording” of news events has lost much of its value. Journalists will have to provide something else of use to readers: “wisdom journalism.” Stephens defines wisdom journalism
Beyond News: The Case for Wisdom Journalism Read More »
A paper by Maralee Schwartz, spring 2009 fellow, analyzes the implications of using health news provided by non-profit organizations. Departure of experienced journalists and shrinking budgets for reporting have resulted in a decline in the variety of content newspapers produce – including health care coverage. The launch of The Kaiser Family Foundation’s Kaiser Health News,
Getting it for Free: When Foundations Provide the News on Health Read More »
James O’Shea, spring 2009 fellow, recounts his experience leading the Los Angeles Times from 2006 to 2008, through a period of turmoil, budget cuts, struggling circulation and layoffs. This paper resulted in the book The Deal from Hell: How Moguls and Wall Street Plundered Great American Newspapers. Download the paper (PDF).
Up Against a Saint and a Dead Man Read More »
A paper by Rory O’Connor, fall 2008 fellow, explores the implications of our media and social-media saturated news environment. Although unparalleled information access is empowering, it also presents its own unique set of issues and challenges, both to journalists and to society as a whole. Facing a virtual tsunami of unfiltered information, how can audiences
Word of Mouse: Credibility, Journalism and Emerging Social Media Read More »
A paper by Sandra Nyaira, fall 2008 fellow, analyzes efforts to keep Zimbabweans informed in the wake of the collapse of the country’s media landscape – a part of the ZANU‐PF government’s violent campaign to remain in office. Without private daily newspapers, private, commercial or community radio stations, independent television channels, or access to foreign
Mugabe’s Media War: How New Media Help Zimbabwean Journalists Tell Their Story Read More »
A paper by Eric Pooley, fall 2008 fellow, examines how the media has covered the economics of climate change. This paper follows coverage of the economic debate over Senate Bill 2191, the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2008, which called for a mandatory declining cap on carbon. Pooley writes that “well-crafted legislation can reduce emissions
J.H. Snider, spring 2008 fellow, discusses problems with government transparency, and the feasibility of potential solutions in two papers. Paper #1: The Dismal Politics of Legislative Transparency The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prevents legislators from infringing on the freedom of the press. However, legislators have been granted monopoly control of legislative information systems,
A paper by Philip J. Hilts, spring 2008 fellow, explores the growth and future of global health news coverage. Hilts found that although newspapers have suffered an overall decline in reporting, global health coverage of topics such as new diseases, the safety of imported food, and health-related poverty interventions have received increased coverage, not only at
Journalism and Global Health Read More »
A paper by Richard Davis, spring 2008 fellow, analyzes how political bloggers are affecting traditional journalism. How is a community with long-held traditions and professional norms being affected by a community that seemingly plays by its own rules? What is the nature of the relationship between these two players? The thesis of this paper is
A Symbiotic Relationship between Journalists and Bloggers Read More »
A paper by Elizabeth Becker, spring 2008 fellow, explores why the business side of travel is so seldom covered by journalists – and the implications. Despite being a fast-growing, $7 trillion international industry that impacts cities and wilderness, sometimes quite negatively, the effects of tourism get “a pass from the media,” according to Becker. She describes
Lost in the Travel Pages: The Global Industry Hiding Inside the Sunday Newspaper Read More »
A paper by Geoffrey Cowan, fall 2007 fellow, argues that although many of the major news organizations that dominated the landscape a generation ago have lost ground during the disruption of the news industry, leadership is key to a path forward. The motives of a publication’s owners – profits, influence, or personal prestige – each present
A paper by Robin Sproul, fall 2007 fellow, details the growing problems with exit polls. Sproul writes that “the six news organizations that jointly conduct exit polls, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, NBC, and the Associated Press have been on a roller coaster ride since Election Day 2000, with a great many successes, some spectacular failures,
Exit Polls: Better or Worse Since the 2000 Election? Read More »
A paper by Nguyễn Anh Tuấn, fall 2007 fellow, tells the story VietNamNet, Vietnam’s most popular online media outlet and one of the country’s most respected news publications. Although private news outlets are not yet legal—all newspapers are controlled by state organizations—the Vietnamese press has become increasingly vibrant and politically influential. VietNamNet has been reporting
From VietNet to VietNam Net: Ten Years of Electronic Media in Vietnam Read More »
A paper by Tom Fiedler, fall 2007 fellow, considers whether the structure of the presidential primary – which includes special treatment of Iowa, New Hampshire and, lately, Nevada and South Carolina, is in decline. Fiedler argues that this change also coincides with the loss of control that political parties have experienced in recent elections, and the
A report by the Shorenstein Center and the Project for Excellence in Journalism analyzes positive and negative press coverage of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain. The study first examines the dominant personal narratives about the candidates in the media during the heat of the primary season. The most prominent negative theme
A paper by Michael Maier, spring 2007 fellow, examines various forms of citizen journalism taking place at traditional media outlets. The paper includes projects by The Los Angeles Times in 2005; a model developed by Bill Kovach, the former Washington bureau chief of The New York Times, that was tested in the newsrooms of the
Journalism without Journalists: Vision or Caricature? 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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