A paper by Jonathan Mirsky, fall 1999 fellow, follows the history of modern American reporting on China. Beginning with the 1972 post-Nixon euphoria of American reporters, Mirsky traces the American press’ growing awareness of the controls imposed on them by the Chinese state. The paper then provides personal accounts from journalists of their China careers, […]
Getting the Story in China: American Reporters Since 1972 Read More »
A paper by Lynette Lithgow, spring 2000 fellow (deceased), attempts to explain why Asia has consistently produced more women heads of government than any other region in the world, despite a lack of empowerment for the ordinary Asian woman. This paper examines the forces that have helped to propel a number of women onto center-stage
A paper by Xiguang Li, spring 1999 fellow, argues that along with a free market economy, China has begun to embrace a new kind of journalism, even if it has not necessarily been a planned part of China’s reform. Although not approaching an American level of press freedom, this new media landscape is functioning as
Great Sound Makes No Noise — Creeping Freedoms in Chinese Press Read More »
A paper by Katsiaryna Ivanova, fall 1998 fellow, compares media coverage of events in Belarus by the government, independent press, and international press, to attempt to find out how the three types of press interact and what effect this interaction may have on a society in transition. The event chosen for examination is a controversial
Press Coverage of Belarus, A Newly Independent Country in Transition Read More »
A paper by William M. Hammond, spring 1999 fellow, investigates the mystery of the Saigon correspondents. Opinions about who the correspondents were have been varied, and often colored by an individual’s view of the Vietnam War. A high percentage of them were messengers, translators, technicians and cameramen, and back up staff members of all sorts,
Who Were the Saigon Correspondents and Does It Matter? Read More »
A paper by Michael Goldfarb, spring 1999 fellow, explores the differences in coverage of the Clinton administration between the American and British press. While the American press covered health care reform and the war in Bosnia in 1994, the British press – including quality outlets such as The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph – seemed
A paper by Elisabeth Gidengil, spring 2000 fellow, and Joanna Everitt from the Department of History and Politics, University of New Brunswick – St. John, builds upon the concept of “gendered mediation” to argue that conventional news frames construct politics in stereotypically masculine terms – which has implications for the coverage of female leaders. Content analysis
Talking Tough: Gender and Reported Speech in Campaign News Coverage Read More »
In March 1999, the Shorenstein Center convened a conference of journalists, financial industry leaders, and policymakers to discuss the press’s coverage of the changes that have fundamentally reshaped American and global financial markets in the past 20 years. Gathering in Washington D.C., conference participants heard then-Secretary of Treasury Robert Rubin, Fannie Mae chairman Franklin Raines,
A paper by Stephen Ward, spring 1998 fellow, considers the journalistic value of objectivity from a philosophical perspective. The concept of objectivity has come under assault, not only through violations by practitioners, but also through a concerted attack by modern and post-modern media critics, who believe that “objectivity” is (depending on the critic) deceitful, erroneous,
Pragmatic News Objectivity: Objectivity with a Human Face Read More »
A paper by Jim Sleeper, fall 1998 fellow, asks if by offering a bilingual product, newspapers are undermining a united sense of citizenship. The Miami Herald began producing a Spanish-language version of its paper to attract the growing population of former Cubans and Latin Americans in the city. Sleeper argues that this move contributes to
Should American Journalism Make Us Americans? Read More »
A paper by Sean Jacobs, fall 1998 fellow, examines changes in South Africa’s news media in the 1990s. Television and radio, long dominated by the state, had a history of bias in favor of South Africa’s apartheid government. The first democratic elections in 1994 revealed how far removed from the electorate the media was, argues
Tensions of a Free Press: South Africa After Apartheid Read More »
A paper by Charlotte Grimes, spring 1998 fellow, asks whether citizen journalism is living up to its promises. Grimes provides a history of the rise of civic journalism that raises many questions about both its aims and its successes, and whether there is benefit in supplanting traditional tools and processes with newer ones. She notes
Whither the Civic Journalism Bandwagon? Read More »
Richard Sobel, fall 1996 fellow, compares the disparity between public support for intervention in Bosnia as expressed in polls, and the limited reporting of those opinions in U.S. media and political discussions. Sobel hypothesizes that the press did not fully portray evidence of support because of the post-Vietnam syndrome, the intensity of the opposition, the
Portraying American Public Opinion toward the Bosnia Crisis (abstract) Read More »
Alexis Sinduhije, fall 1997 fellow, writes about the harrowing experience of practicing journalism in central Africa during the Rwandan Genocide. From 1993 to 1997, Sinduhije covered the violence around him, searching for ways that journalism could help stem the bloodshed, while striving to report the news objectively – even after the murder of his own
Ijambo: Speaking Truth amidst Genocide Read More »
A paper by Nachman Shai, fall 1996 fellow, builds a case for the proposition that “truth” rather than “spin” is the basis of effective public information efforts, even when a nation is at war. Shai focuses on the turbulent decade in Israeli life that begins with the Lebanon War (1982) and ends with the Gulf
A paper by Moshe Negbi, fall 1997 fellow, explores the rise of “commercially-motivated censorship” in Israel’s media. Negbi argues that powerful private interests in Israel’s media companies have suppressed and distorted stories and opinions that were not to their liking, or that they perceived as detrimental to their interests and profits. The paper provides an
A paper by Kathleen E. Kendall, fall 1997 fellow, examines communication by candidates and the media in presidential primary elections. The presidential primaries are a twentieth century phenomenon which grew out of the late nineteenth century tradition of party primaries on the local level. They are distinctly different from general elections because they are multiple,
A paper by Zachary Karabell, fall 1997 fellow, traces the history of the broadcast presidential conventions and builds a case for the proposition that the parties and the networks together have brought the conventions to a low ebb that does a disservice to voters. Karabell describes three phases of the broadcast conventions: 1952–1968, when they
The Rise and Fall of the Televised Political Convention Read More »
A paper by Marvin Kalb, former Shorenstein Center director and veteran reporter, analyzes the press coverage in the first few weeks of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Kalb attempts to answer the question: what is wrong with American journalism? Why has it lost the trust and confidence of so many of its readers and viewers? He
The Rise of the New News: A Case Study of Two Root Causes of the Modern Scandal Coverage Read More »
A paper by Stephen J. Hutcheon, fall 1997 fellow, traces the history of press freedom in Hong Kong under British rule up to the aftermath of China’s takeover in 1997. Hutcheon analyzes the forces that could erode the freedom of the Hong Kong media and the counter forces that might help to protect press freedom.
Pressing Concerns: Hong Kong’s Media in an Era of Transition 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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