April 19, 2000 — Alex S. Jones, a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and host of PBS’s Media Matters, has been named the new director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, announced Dean Joseph S. Nye, Jr. today. “Alex Jones brings a breadth […]
Alex S. Jones named as director of Shorenstein Center Read More »
March 9, 2000 — The $25,000 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting has been awarded to journalists from Time magazine by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government. In last night’s ceremony, Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele were presented the Prize for their series,
Time magazine reporters win Goldsmith reporting prize Read More »
This report by Thomas Patterson, Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press at the Shorenstein Center, asks if the news media do well and also do good? Can they meet their need to attract audiences and also fulfill their responsibility to inform the public? The news has changed greatly during the past two decades. In
A paper by B.J. Bullert, fall 1999 fellow, examines communication tactics used by activists against multinational corporations. The 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle succeeded in linking labor, environmental concerns and human rights to the WTO, resulting in a march of an estimated 40,000 people. The environmental, human rights, labor rights and sweatshop issues
Strategic Public Relations, Sweatshops, and the Making of a Global Movement Read More »
A paper by Thomas W. Benson, spring 1999 fellow, follows the construction of presidential leadership through public rhetoric, including the authorship of that rhetoric, and its mediation through the press. As a master example, Benson analyzes the case of John F. Kennedy’s speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors on April 20, 1961. President
A paper by Stephen Bates, fall 1999 fellow, explores how prosecutors and journalists see the issue of press subpoenas. Bates first looks at how the issue has been framed and fought over the years. Next, he tracks a subpoena issued to ABC, the litigation over it, and the subsequent commentary. The paper concludes with brief
The Reporter’s Privilege, Then and Now Read More »
A paper by Alexis Sinduhije, fall 1997 fellow, explores the distance between African-Americans and Africans. Sinduhije asks: what do African-Americans know about Africa, and vice versa? What follows are the results of his search for that answer – and its implications for Africans and African-Americans alike. Sinduhije argues that both groups have a common ground
A Voyage Never Ended Read More »
A paper by Jonathan Randal, fall 1998 fellow, argues that the decline in international affairs news can be attributed to a combination of factors, including audience disinterest and changes in the media business. With an increasingly fragmented audience, Randal worries that even if news becomes more accessible online, if there is no appetite for international
The Decline, But Not Yet Total Fall, of Foreign News in the U.S. Media Read More »
A paper by Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, spring 1999 fellow, examines Eastern European state television and its difficult or sometimes failed transition from ownership by the state to public and private models. Mungiu-Pippidi looks at television in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, from the onset of democratic regimes in 1989 and 1990 until 2000.
State into Public: The Failed Reform of State TV in East Central Europe Read More »
A paper by Richard Morin, fall 1999 fellow, considers South Africans’ sense of optimism and uncertainty regarding future democratic progress. Do they expect the transformation brought about by Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu to continue, or to pass into blood and chaos? Do the factors that encourage optimism among blacks provoke uncertainty among whites?
Rainbow’s End: Public Support for Democracy in the New South Africa Read More »
A paper by Peter Molnar, spring 2000 fellow, examines Hungary’s lack of press freedom and possible paths forward. Freedom of speech was less valued in Hungary’s fledgling democracy than it was before the fall of the Berlin Wall, argues Molnar. Such a contradiction is characteristic of the ongoing transformation in Hungarian society. An emerging democracy
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 »
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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