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 »
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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