Focus Areas - The Shorenstein Center

The Shorenstein Center’s areas of focus reflect the breadth of today’s most pressing questions at the intersection of media, policy, and society, with a focus on audiences and behavior. We conduct in-depth research, foster collaboration, and engage with leading practitioners and scholars around these topics.

Explore the descriptions below to learn how our work addresses the evolution and impact of media.

Primary Focus Areas

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Media Creation

Exploring and supporting the evolving world of news and public interest media.

Information Distribution

Investigating how news and information travel across platforms, technologies, and audiences.

News Consumption & Engagement

Understanding how people behave in a rapidly changing information landscape.

Policy & Impact

Exploring how media and policy shape each other—and their impact on civic life, public discourse, and democracy.

Topics

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Information Integrity & Trust

Unraveling what shapes trust in news and civic information—and how we can strengthen it in today’s media landscape.

Media Standards & Practices

Bridging public interest media traditions by exploring and connecting standards and practices across journalism, documentary, and digital creators.

Emerging Technologies

Unpacking how emerging technologies are transforming the creation, distribution, and impact of public interest media and civic information.

Media Business Models

Exploring how evolving models for creating and sustaining journalism and public interest media are shaping the future of public information.

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Journalism

Advancing rigorous research, expert support, and recognition for journalism that informs the public and strengthens democracy.

Film & Visual Media

Highlighting and examining the power of documentary film and visual media to inform, engage, and deepen public understanding.

Generative AI

Examining how generative AI is shaping media creation, industry practices, and trust in information—and the policies emerging to address it.

Social Media

Analyzing the forces shaping news and public discourse on and around social media platforms and the creator economy.

Civic Information

Considering the innovations and issues in how essential civic information, from government benefits to voting to public services, is conveyed and consumed.