June 28, 2001 — In an effort to stimulate discussion about the way important racial-related news stories are reported in the American media, the John F. Kennedy School of Government’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy sponsored a Conference on Race and the Press on Thursday, June 28, in Washington, D.C. […]
Clinton is keynote speaker at conference on race and the press Read More »
March 13, 2001 — The $25,000 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting has been awarded to Karen Dillon off the Kansas City Star for “To Protect and Collect,” which examined a controversial police practice of keeping money seized during drug raids. Watch the Video The finalists for the prize were: – Ken Armstrong and Steve Mills
Kansas City Star wins reporting prize, Turner nets career award Read More »
February 26, 2001 — Tom Brokaw, anchor of the NBC Nightly News since 1983, delivered the 11th Theodore H. White Lecture on Press and Politics tonight. The journalist’s subject was “So Much Information, So Little Time.” Speaking to a Forum crowd of 800 people, Brokaw discussed the pressures on broadcast journalists today, commenting pointedly that
Tom Brokaw delivers 2000 Theodore H. White lecture Read More »
A paper by Stanley Renshon, spring 2000 fellow, considers the role of character in the 2000 presidential campaign. Renshon states that “character issues” tell citizens something important about prospective leaders. Honesty, integrity and trustworthiness may well be virtues in themselves, but they are important for the nation’s political life. This is primarily so because they
A paper by Deborah Mathis, fall 2000-spring 2001 fellow, examines racial diversity in the media coverage after the Bush-Gore election in 2000. Between November 7, when voters reported to the polls, and December 13, when Gore finally conceded to Bush, television talk shows booked hundreds of guests. Some commentators participated in several shows a day,
No Seat at the Table: The Black-White Appearance Gap in the Election 2000 Story Read More »
A paper by Jeff Madrick, spring 2001 fellow, argues that the media, entranced with the economic idea of “the new economy” in the 1990s, missed other important trends detrimental to the economy overall. The broad faith in a new economy ultimately did a great deal of damage, states Madrick: It encouraged investors to pay prices
The Business Media and the New Economy Read More »
August 13, 2000 — The day before the Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles’s Regal Biltmore Hotel was the site of a panel on the impact of the Internet on democracy, hosted by the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. During the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, much attention was paid to
Shorenstein Center hosts panel on impact of Internet on democracy Read More »
The Shorenstein Center asked Michael Cornfield, an expert on the Internet and politics, to give a quick appraisal of the performance of online media at the 2000 Republican National Convention. Cornfield prepared the following paper for a panel discussion held on August 13, 2000. The paper looks at a key moment in the campaign to
The Internet and the 2000 Republican Convention: An Appraisal Read More »
July 30, 2000 — On the occasion of the 2000 Republican National Convention, the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy hosted a panel on convention television coverage. The event took place at Philadelphia City Hall, and featured numerous news-organization and political leaders. Shorenstein Center report, Is There a Future for On-the-Air
Shorenstein Center hosts panel on convention television coverage Read More »
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
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.
Unless otherwise noted this site and its contents are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.