Different Strokes: Public Broadcasting in America and Australia

Media Business, News Business & Practice, Papers, Publications / By Nilagia McCoy

A paper by Glyn Davis, fall 1988 fellow, compares the United States’ decentralized public broadcasting system to its Australian counterpart, which was built on the British government monopoly model. Starting with a historical analysis of how the two different systems developed from their early radio days, Davis documents the various political assaults and supports for […]

Different Strokes: Public Broadcasting in America and Australia Read More »

Through the Revolving Door: Blurring the Line between the Press and Government

Government Institutions, News Business & Practice, Papers, Politics & Government, Press Freedom, Publications / By Nilagia McCoy

A paper by Lewis W. Wolfson, spring 1990 fellow, explores the implications when government officials change careers to become journalists. What is the impact on press freedom and public policy? Wolfson conducted 62 interviews, including veterans of the Washington press and political communities who have “crossed the line,” as well as member of the press

Through the Revolving Door: Blurring the Line between the Press and Government Read More »

Changing Lanes on the Inside Track: The Career Shuttle Between Journalism, Politics and Government

Government Institutions, Journalistic Practice, News Business & Practice, Papers, Politics & Government, Publications / By Nilagia McCoy

A paper by James McEnteer, spring 1990 fellow, evaluates the phenomenon of the revolving door between journalism and politics or government. McEnteer challenges the idea that moving from government roles to journalism is always a conflict of interest. Journalists should be detached from the subjects they cover, yet “insider information” also has value. Based on

Changing Lanes on the Inside Track: The Career Shuttle Between Journalism, Politics and Government Read More »

Nine Sundays: A Proposal for Better Presidential Campaign Coverage

Campaigns, Elections & Parties, Journalistic Practice, News Business & Practice, Politics & Government, Publications / By Nilagia McCoy

This Shorenstein Center report by John Ellis provides recommendations for improving election coverage during the nine Sundays between Labor Day and Election Day, when public interest in the presidential campaign increases. This proposal recommends that major broadcast networks provide 90 minutes of evening or prime time coverage every Sunday to a serious and substantial discussion

Nine Sundays: A Proposal for Better Presidential Campaign Coverage Read More »

Expanding the Public’s Right to Know: Access to Settlement Records under the First Amendment

Government Institutions, News Business & Practice, Papers, Politics & Government, Press Freedom, Publications / By Nilagia McCoy

A paper by John J. Watkins, spring 1990 fellow, explores a question often confronted by the lower courts: whether the First Amendment right of access extends to settlement agreements and related documents in civil cases. These records are not inconsequential for journalists, argues Watkins. Modern civil litigation involves myriad issues of public importance: corporate and

Expanding the Public’s Right to Know: Access to Settlement Records under the First Amendment Read More »

Lies in Ink, Truth in Blood: The Role and Impact of the Chinese Media During the Beijing Spring of ‘89

Citizen Action & Interest Groups, International Affairs, News Business & Practice, Papers, Policy & Issues, Politics & Government, Press Freedom, Publications / By Nilagia McCoy

A paper by Linda Jakobson, spring 1990 fellow, focuses on Chinese press coverage of the student-led Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. For this paper, Jakobson interviewed dozens of Chinese journalists, scholars and other observers, read and watched Chinese press coverage, and placed it within a Chinese social and political context. Her paper provides insight into

Lies in Ink, Truth in Blood: The Role and Impact of the Chinese Media During the Beijing Spring of ‘89 Read More »

Window to the West: How Television from the Federal Republic Influenced Events in East Germany

Citizen Action & Interest Groups, International Affairs, News Business & Practice, Papers, Policy & Issues, Politics & Government, Press Freedom, Publications / By Nilagia McCoy

A paper by Dieter Buhl, spring 1990 fellow, examines how television from West Germany influenced political developments in East Germany in the 1980s. Buhl’s study suggests that television functioned on at least two levels leading up to the fall of the Berlin Wall: it educated people, feeding information from the West into millions of East

Window to the West: How Television from the Federal Republic Influenced Events in East Germany Read More »

Sound Bite Democracy: Network Evening News Presidential Campaign Coverage, 1968 and 1988

Campaigns, Elections & Parties, Journalistic Practice, News Business & Practice, Papers, Politics & Government, Publications / By Nilagia McCoy

A paper by Kiku Adatto, fall 1989 fellow, analyzes how televised news coverage of presidential campaigns has changed, and finds that sound bites have been steadily shrinking. The average sound bite, or block of uninterrupted speech, from a presidential candidate fell from 42.3 seconds in 1968 to only 9.8 seconds in 1988, writes Adatto. In

Sound Bite Democracy: Network Evening News Presidential Campaign Coverage, 1968 and 1988 Read More »

Tritium and the Times: How the Nuclear Weapons-Production Scandal Became a National Story

Environment, Health & Science, Papers, Policy & Issues, Publications, War, Defense & Security / By Nilagia McCoy

A paper by William Lanouette, spring-fall 1988 fellow, provides a case study on the role of the press in nuclear weapons policy. For more than a decade, pieces of a nationwide scandal had surfaced from the vast and sprawling system that produces the U.S’s nuclear weapons as health, safety and environmental stories in local papers

Tritium and the Times: How the Nuclear Weapons-Production Scandal Became a National Story Read More »

School for Scandal

Government Institutions, Journalistic Practice, News Business & Practice, Papers, Politics & Government, Publications / By Nilagia McCoy

A speech delivered by author and philosopher Sissela Bok, on March 29, 1990, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, as part of the Shorenstein Center’s conference “School for Scandal: Lessons for the Politicians and the Press.” Bok addresses voters mistrust of and disillusionment with government, as well as an obsession with scandal. “At

School for Scandal Read More »

Reflections on Television’s Role in American Presidential Elections

Campaigns, Elections & Parties, Journalistic Practice, News Business & Practice, Papers, Politics & Government, Publications / By Nilagia McCoy

A paper by Lawrence K. Grossman, Visiting Stanton Lecturer, 1987-1988, explores why, despite a high volume of campaign coverage, voter turnout for the 1988 election was at its lowest point since 1924. Grossman argues that the problem is partly television, which distorts the political process through its “conventional mainstream bias,” its role as a medium

Reflections on Television’s Role in American Presidential Elections Read More »

The Politics of Character and the Character of Journalism

Campaigns, Elections & Parties, Journalistic Practice, News Business & Practice, Papers, Politics & Government, Publications / By Nilagia McCoy

A paper by Judith Lichtenberg, visiting assistant professor, spring 1988, asks why “the character question” has assumed such a central role in presidential politics. Lichtenberg analyzes why we place value on and how we measure “moral goodness, strength of will, judgement and leadership.” Concern with these elusive kinds of questions gives the press a special

The Politics of Character and the Character of Journalism Read More »

Follow us