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J Winter 2006 PRESS/POLITICS News from the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University From the Director John S. Carroll to Serve as First Knight Something Visiting Lecturer basic in main- stream journal- The Shoren- and the highest ethical standards. ism has stein Center Earlier this year, Carroll retired changed, and it will host the after five years as top editor of has happened first Knight Vis- the Los Angeles Times, during without debate iting Lecturer. which time the paper won 13 or even much The lectureship Pulitzer Prizes. discussion. is a position for “John Carroll is one of the Alex S. Jones Now, as John S. Carroll distinguished most important journalists of readers and viewers, we feel it is journalists who his generation,” said Alberto our right to know why news will study, analyze and comment Ibargüen, president and CEO decisions were made. We now on the future of journalism in of Knight Foundation. “We’re feel entitled to a transparency America and around the world. glad to help make possible an that is unprecedented. John S. Carroll, former editor opportunity to reflect on his For instance, readers of the of the Los Angeles Times, is the experience and on journalism in New York Times have demanded first to receive this appointment, society at a time of transforma- to know why the Times decided funded with a $200,000 grant tional change. Students and to hold its story on domestic from the John S. and James L. scholars at Harvard will benefit, spying for a year. On January 1, Knight Foundation. as well as the virtual, worldwide the paper’s frustrated public edi- The new lectureship will pro- community of people who care tor scolded the publisher and top vide distinguished journalists about the uses of information in editor for refusing to explain, with positions at major universi- an open society.” and their silence was framed as ties of their choosing for a year of “My topic is an urgent one: a betrayal of a presumed con- reflection, research and teaching. nothing less than the fate of tract to level with readers. The lectureship is intended for journalism,” said Carroll. “The What has made the Times’s highly respected senior journal- silence on the domestic spying ists who embody both excellence Continued on page 10 story so perplexing is that it has occurred simultaneously with the paper’s crystalline trans- parency in reporting on child Matthew Baum to Join Shorenstein Center pornography. In that case, reporter Kurt Eichenwald has Matthew media and public opinion in con- revealed in detail how he con- Baum, associate temporary American politics. He tacted a young man who, at 13, professor of is the author of Soft News Goes had started removing his clothes political science to War: Public Opinion and and performing sex acts in front and communi- American Foreign Policy in the of Web cams for Internet cation studies New Media Age, in which he pedophiles who sent him at the Univer- argues that due to the rise of the money. Eichenwald contacted sity of Southern “soft news media,” and despite Matthew Baum the boy through the Web, per- California at claims to the contrary, the pub- suaded him to meet and then Los Angeles, will be joining the lic’s attention to foreign policy identified himself as a reporter. Shorenstein Center as a visiting crises has actually increased over But he then took the added steps associate professor of public pol- the past several decades. icy in the fall of 2006. Baum studies the role of the mass Continued on page 8 www.shorensteincenter.org Press/Politics 2 The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy Fellows Research the Media, the Military, and More David Anable D. Sunshine Brigadier Gen- was president of Hillygus is an eral Kevin Ryan the International assistant profes- (ret.) is a joint Center for Jour- sor of govern- fellow with the nalists from ment at Harvard Shorenstein 1997 to 2004 University. She Center and the and is a former holds a Ph.D. in Belfer Center for managing editor political science Science and of the Christian Science Moni- from Stanford University and a International Affairs. General tor. He writes columns for a B.A. and M.A. from the Univer- Ryan has supervised U.S. gov- group of newspapers in Virginia, sity of Arkansas. Her research ernment security programs with as well as occasional pieces for and teaching interests include various foreign militaries and the Christian Science Monitor, American voting behavior, cam- served in Germany, Russia and where he was a reporter, bureau paigns and elections, and infor- Korea. He has participated in chief, foreign editor, and manag- mation technology and society. security negotiations at the ing editor between 1965 and Dr. Hillygus’s research has been national level and facilitated 1988. Anable is also a former published in the American Jour- cooperative programs with the professor at Boston University, nal of Political Science, the Jour- Department of Defense, the where he was chairman of its nal of Politics, Political George C. Marshall Center, the School of Journalism. At the Behavior, and IT & Society. She National Defense University and Shorenstein Center he focused is co-author of the forthcoming several other universities. In his on international media, how a book, The Last Long Form Cen- most recent assignment, General country’s journalism can open sus: Privacy versus Mobilization Ryan was responsible for Army the way for democratic reforms in 2000. While at the Center Dr. strategic war plans, policy and and the role of training in pro- Hillygus researched the role of international affairs. As a Center moting such a process. the media in U.S. elections. fellow he explored military man- power strains on the U.S. mili- Diane Francis is Zhengrong Hu tary and how this issue can be editor-at-large at is director of the understood by the American the National National Center public through the press. Post in Canada for Radio and and a broad- Television Stud- Judy Woodruff is caster with ies and is a pro- a broadcast jour- Rogers Media. fessor at the nalist who has She was editor Communication covered politics and a director of the Financial University of China. He earned and breaking Post, forerunner of the National his Ph.D. in communication news for over Post. She has been a columnist from Renmin University. His three decades at and investigative journalist for research interests are in theories three major net- the Toronto Star, the Toronto of communication, radio and works—NBC, PBS and CNN. For Sun publishing chain, Southam television broadcasting, media 12 years Woodruff served as Newspaper chain, and Maclean’s policy, political economy of anchor (she anchored the weekly magazine, among others. She communication, and new program “Inside Politics”) and writes three columns weekly on media. Mr. Hu has published senior correspondent for CNN. a range of subjects and appears papers on Chinese media in In June 2005 she left the net- regularly on radio and television. transition for numerous leading work to pursue longer-form jour- She is the author of eight books Chinese journals, including the nalism opportunities but will on politics, business and white- Chinese Broadcasting Academic continue as a consultant and collar crime. Her research at the Journal and Modern Communi- occasional contributor to the Shorenstein Center covered anti- cation. He is the author of network. At PBS, from 1984 to Americanism in the Canadian, Media Reality and Beyond and British and French media and its Media Management Renova- effect on public policy in those tion. Dr. Hu’s research concerns countries. Chinese politics and media pol- Continued on page 10 icy in transition. www.shorensteincenter.org Press/Politics The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy 3 Woodward and Bernstein Discuss the Use of Anonymous Sources columnist Robert Novak revealed the identity of a CIA operative, Valerie Plame, who was involved in work on weapons of mass destruction, and attributed his information to “two senior administration officials.” Recently, Woodward has weathered attacks for not reveal- ing earlier that he also had learned of Plame’s identity through an anonymous source. At the forum, he explained that Alex Jones, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward he had not at first recognized the In a December 5 forum spon- Woodward and Bernstein have significance of what he had been sored by the Shorenstein Center been closely identified with the told, partly due to the manner in and moderated by Center Direc- subject of source confidentiality which the information had been tor Alex Jones, journalists Bob since they covered Watergate. conveyed. “Someone told me in Woodward and Carl Bernstein The duo depended heavily on a casual, offhand way,” he said. converged to discuss the topic of secret informants during that He added that he was also con- source attribution and the role it investigation, most notably on cerned about the possibility of may have played in forwarding the FBI insider dubbed “Deep being asked to name sources to the Bush Administration’s case Throat.” For decades, the whom he had promised confi- for war in Iraq. Addressing an reporters kept their pledge not to dentiality. audience that included about unmask Deep Throat. In fact, Within the body of the session 500 students, journalists, acade- the source’s identity remained a and during the question-and- mics and members of the gen- mystery until he, former FBI answer period afterward, Wood- eral public, the two insisted that assistant director W.