Politics & Government

Bob Schieffer and Nicco Mele

Bob Schieffer: Finding the Truth in Today’s Deluge of News

October 10, 2017—Bob Schieffer, CBS News contributor, former Face the Nation host, and 2015-2016 Walter Shorenstein Media & Democracy Fellow, discussed his new book, Overload: Finding the Truth in Today’s Deluge of News, during a visit to the Shorenstein Center. He also shared his thoughts on the 2016 election, media coverage of the White House, […]

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E.J. Dionne, Jr.

E.J. Dionne, Jr. on One Nation After Trump, Media, the Economy, and Progressivism

September 12, 2017—E.J. Dionne, Jr., political writer for The Washington Post, and William H. Bloomberg Visiting Professor, discussed his forthcoming book, One Nation After Trump: A Guide for the Perplexed, the Disillusioned, the Desperate, and the Not-Yet Deported, co-authored by Norman J. Ornstein and Thomas E. Mann. During his talk at the Shorenstein Center, Dionne

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TV studio

Report on Network Sunday Morning Talk Show Content and Ratings, Comparing 1983, 1999, and 2015

Executive Summary We studied the content and Nielsen ratings for interviews on the three network Sunday morning talk shows—Meet the Press (henceforth MTP), Face the Nation (FTN), and This Week (TW). We compared three time periods—1983 (MTP, FTN), 1999 (all three shows), and 2015 (all three shows). In order to insure apples-to-apples comparisons, for over

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Sarah Smarsh

Sarah Smarsh: Reporting on Rural America and Class

April 18, 2017—Sarah Smarsh, a reporter on socioeconomic class, politics, and policy for The New Yorker, The Guardian, Harper’s online, and other publications, discussed media coverage of class in the U.S. Below are some highlights from her conversation with Shorenstein Center Director Nicco Mele, as well as the full audio recording. The Construct of the “White

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Nicco Mele and Bhaskar Sunkara

Bhaskar Sunkara: The Future of the American Left

April 4, 2017—Bhaskar Sunkara, editor and publisher of Jacobin magazine, discussed his views on leftist politics in the United States during a visit to the Shorenstein Center. Below are some highlights from the conversation. Sunkara also discussed the intersection of race and class, work and automation, the decline of unions, and other topics, available in

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Dafna Linzer

Dafna Linzer of NBC, MSNBC: Reporting on Trump from the Campaign Trail to the White House

February 21, 2017—Dafna Linzer, managing editor of politics for NBC News and MSNBC, shared insights about covering the 2016 campaign and the Trump administration. Below are some highlights from the conversation, as well as the full audio recording. President Trump’s media viewing habits “We never got the sense that anyone who occupied the Oval Office was

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David Fahrenthold: Reporting on President Trump

February 7, 2017—David Fahrenthold, a political reporter for The Washington Post, discussed his investigations of President Trump’s charitable giving during the 2016 campaign season, and provided insight about how to cover the president and his administration during a visit to the Shorenstein Center. Fahrenthold recently won acclaim for his coverage of the 2016 United States

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Sissela Bok: Secrets and Lies in Politics and Elections

November 1, 2016—Sissela Bok, writer, philosopher, and a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, provided a nuanced view on how lies and secrets in politics have impacted public trust and the 2016 election. Below are some highlights from the conversation, as well as the full audio recording. Also available on

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Peter Hart: Trends and Demographics in the 2016 Election

October 19, 2016 — Peter D. Hart, chairman of Hart Research Associates, a public opinion research firm that provides polls for NBC News and The Wall Street Journal, discussed the driving forces behind the 2016 presidential election, and the influence of voter demographics and public opinion on the race. Hart also discussed down-ballot races, polling,

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Amy Walter: The Current State of the Campaign

October 18, 2016 — Amy Walter, national editor of The Cook Political Report, discussed possible outcomes of the 2016 presidential and down-ballot races, and what may lie ahead after Election Day. Walter, who appears on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and “PBS NewsHour,”also discussed the role of voter turnout, Senate races in Missouri and North Carolina, her approach

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Joy-Ann Reid: How Race Impacts the 2016 Election

October 11, 2016 — Joy-Ann Reid, host of MSNBC’s “AM Joy” discussed the role of race within the Republican and Democratic parties, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the need for the U.S. to reckon with its history, in a discussion with Shorenstein Center Director Nicco Mele. Reid, who is the author of the 2015

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Zeynep Tufekci: Technology in Global Activism, Uprisings and Social Movements

October 4, 2016 — Zeynep Tufekci, a New York Times opinion writer who focuses on the social impact of technology, discussed the advantages and shortcomings of the use of technology in protest movements. Tufekci, who is also an associate professor in the School of Information and Library Science at UNC, and a faculty associate at

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