Student Media Initiative

An Experiential Learning Opportunity in Media Production and Publication for HKS Students

The newly launched Student Media Initiative (SMI) at the Shorenstein Center creates the opportunity to explore the use of different forms of media to advance public policy understanding and debate.

SMI offers an experiential learning environment for students to build skills in research, writing, interviewing, editing, data visualization, web development, social media promotion, design, podcasting, and other tools and techniques of media and communication. It has never been easier to reach audiences all over the world and present compelling ideas in engaging and memorable ways. This program allows students to collaborate with one another, with faculty, fellows and the broader HKS community in creating content that elevates and advances the public discourse.

The HKS Student Policy Review

The HKS Student Policy Review is the cornerstone of SMI and provide opportunities for students to research, write, develop policy expertise and publish their research and opinions.

While the publication is administratively housed at and supported by the Shorenstein Center, the student editorial team operates independently. All content is edited and published by Harvard students.

The views expressed in The HKS Student Policy Review are those of the author(s) and/or interviewees only, and do not represent the views of the Shorenstein Center, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, the editors of The HKS Student Policy Review, or any of its affiliates. All content is edited and published by Harvard students.

To learn more, contact our Student Editors and Program Staff.

Programming

SMI offers students opportunities to get hands-on experience through programming including:

  • core media trainings (audio and video editing, sound editing and mixing, on-camera work, podcast development, writing),
  • talks with experts from across all channels of media (TV news, audio journalism, print/digital journalism, social media, etc.),
  • talks with experts and faculty from both the Kennedy School and the broader Harvard community

Faculty Chair

SMI’s Faculty Chair is Shorenstein Center Director and HKS Professor of Practice Nancy Gibbs –  

  • Until September of 2017, Nancy was the Editor in Chief of TIME, directing news and feature coverage across all platforms for more than 65 million readers worldwide, as well as Editorial Director of the Time Inc. News Group.  
  • Gibbs has also served as a consultant to CBS News and an essayist for the News Hour on PBS. 
  • She is the co-author, along with Michael Duffy, of two best-selling presidential histories: The President’s Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity (2012), which spent 30 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list, and The Preacher and the Presidents: Billy Graham in the White House (2007). 
  • She has interviewed five U.S. presidents and multiple other world leaders, and is the author of the most TIME cover stories of any writer in the magazine’s history.

Get Involved

Events

Upcoming Events

Natalia Almada: Two film screenings
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy invites you to attend two screenings of Natalia...
November 11, 2024
Both film screenings begin at 7 p.m. ET. The first screening is on November 11, the second screening is on November 13
A Conversation with Katie Couric
November 14, 2024
6:00 p.m. ET
Five Flavors of Misinformation about AI
November 20, 2024
2:00 p.m. ET

Check back soon or sign up to receive email alerts about SMI events. 

Contact Us

Shorenstein Center staff are always happy to talk with students, faculty, and organizations about their interests and potential connections. Please reach out to us. You can also join our mailing list, follow us on Twitter, or check out our programming wherever we post our content.