J Summer 2005 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 Carnegie-Knight Task Force on Journalism American at Shorenstein Center journalism con- The Shorenstein Center has will focus on research and creat- fronts a crisis been chosen to take a prominent ing a platform for Task Force of confidence role in a new initiative funded members to speak out on jour- not rivaled by the Carnegie Corporation of nalism issues. The founding since the era of New York and the John S. and members of the Task Force are yellow journal- James L. Knight Foundation. The Alex Jones, Geoffrey Cowan of ism. Notwith- initiative involves three distinct USC, Loren Ghiglione of North- standing the efforts: curriculum enrichment western, Nicholas Lemann of Alex S. Jones urgency of (based at journalism schools at Columbia, and Orville Schell of challenges facing serious news- the University of Southern Cali- Berkeley. In the first two years, gathering, this moment in his- fornia; University of California, the Shorenstein Center and tory also offers unparalleled Berkeley; Northwestern Univer- these four journalism schools opportunities and potential for sity and Columbia University); will share in gifts of $2.4 million solutions that preserve the News 21 (an innovative student from the Carnegie Corporation, essential values of traditional internship program), and the and $1.7 million from the journalism while also embracing Carnegie-Knight Task Force on Knight Foundation. (For more the new communications world Journalism. The Task Force, information, please see the that is unfolding. The Carnegie- based at the Shorenstein Center, Director’s letter). Knight Task Force on Journalism is a new vehicle for finding and Diana Henriques Wins 2005 Goldsmith championing solutions to jour- nalism’s modern problems. The Prize for Investigative Reporting Task Force, to be housed at the The $25,000 Goldsmith Prize Shorenstein Center, is part of a for Investigative Reporting was multi-year, 5-university, multi- awarded to Diana Henriques, million dollar project that was business reporter for The New announced in New York City on York Times, on March 22. In her May 26. investigative report entitled Technological, political, eco- “Captive Clientele,” Henriques nomic, and generational change exposed a trail of deceit through have combined to erode the which thousands of American audience for traditional news soldiers were sold misleading Diana Henriques and to weaken time-honored insurance policies, often by for- reporting standards. Many expe- mer military officials. The The Creation of the Media: rienced journalists believe that report’s comprehensive look into Political Origins of Modern their profession is in trouble, the injustices suffered by these Communication and Daniel C. perhaps in crisis. Fairness, accu- soldiers convinced the judges Hallin and Paolo Mancini for racy, and other journalistic that Henriques should receive their book, Comparing Media norms have bent to competitive the Goldsmith Prize—an award Systems: Three Models of Media and partisan pressures, and new for the story that best promotes and Politics. In selecting the outlets—mostly on cable and more effective and ethical con- recipients, members of the selec- the Internet, but also in broad- duct of government, the making tion committee look for acade- casting and print—have risen to of public policy, or the practice mic and trade books which strive of politics in the United States at to improve public governance by the national or local level. exploring the role of the press in The Goldsmith Book Prizes formulating public policy. Continued on page 14 were awarded to Paul Starr for Continued on page 10 www.shorensteincenter.org Press/Politics 2 The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy Fellows Conduct Research on a Wide Range of Topics JACQUELINE tial campaign since 1968. Nolan ALEX JONES is a was named Washington bureau SANDERS was senior producer chief in 1969. In 1981, he born, raised and for BBC Televi- became editor of the Globe’s edi- educated in sion News torial page. In 1991, he resumed South Carolina. working on the reporting and in 1995 moved to After serving in evening news San Francisco to cover Califor- the U.S. Army, program. Based nia and the West. In 2001, he he earned his in London, she retired from the Globe and has undergraduate also produces for the BBC over- since written for the California and law degrees at the Univer- seas. Last year she covered the Journal, The New York Times sity of South Carolina. He later war in Iraq and went to Gaza, and the San Francisco Chroni- earned a Master’s Degree in Judi- Israel, Turkey, Kuwait, and the cle. Nolan is a graduate of cial Process from the University USA. Although international Boston College. His paper, of Virginia. He practiced law, news and politics have driven “Orwell Meets Nixon: When served in the Legislature, and much of her career, she has also and Why ‘The Press’ Became the taught law at the University of been an output editor on the Media,” is posted on the Shoren- South Carolina and the Harvard “Today” program, Britain’s lead- stein Center’s website and will Law School. He was chief justice ing daily politics and current be published in the Harvard of the South Carolina Court of affairs radio program. Educated International Journal of Appeals and president of the in Britain and the US, she has Press/Politics. College of Charleston. In 2002, been working for the BBC since he was the Democratic nominee FRITZ PLASSER she was a student. She started as for the United States Senate. He is professor of a reporter for local radio, then ran a student study group at the political science regional TV, before her move to Shorenstein Center on “Civil and chair of the the BBC’s London headquarters. Rights, the South and the Media: Department of Jacqueline Jones’s paper on the 1945 to Now” and is writing Political Science US and European coverage of the about his experiences with the at the Univer- 2004 Presidential campaign dur- press. “The Reporters” is on the sity of Innsbruck ing the period starting with the Center’s website. and director of Democratic National Conven- the Institute for Applied Politi- DOUG AHLERS tion through Election Night cal Research in Vienna. He is the co-founder appears on the Center’s website. earned his Ph.D. from the Uni- of Modem MARTIN F. versity of Vienna. He has been Media, an inter- NOLAN became author, co-author or editor of 28 active advertis- a reporter for books and has published widely ing and The Boston on campaigns, elections and the marketing Globe in 1961. media from a comparative per- agency. He has He covered spective. His recent English lan- been involved in Boston police guage publications include the development and deployment headquarters, Global Political Campaigning: of online services from the first City Hall, the A Worldwide Analysis of Cam- experiments with interactive Massachusetts State House paign Professionals and Their technology through the explosion and New Hampshire politics. Practices and Political Parties of the Internet as a mass medium. As a member of the Globe’s and Electoral Change: Party After the sale of Modem Media, Washington bureau in 1965, he Responses to Electoral Markets. Mr. Ahlers started two venture was on the investigative team His current research interest is a capital firms in the technology cited in the Globe’s Pulitzer comparative study of postmod- arena. In 1983 he received his Prize for meritorious and disin- ern media logic—assessing master’s degree in journalism at terested public service in 1966. American and European political Louisiana State University. He is He covered Congress, the White journalists’ changing quality currently working on a book that House and national politics. He standards. examines the societal and politi- has reported on every presiden- cal impact of new technologies. www.shorensteincenter.org Press/Politics The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy 3 JULIA BAIRD is DAVID ROHDE WALTER the opinion edi- is a foreign cor- SHAPIRO tor at the Syd- respondent for recently com- ney Morning The New York pleted a nine- Herald where Times. Serving year stint as the she writes a as the paper’s twice-weekly weekly column South Asia political colum- on a range of Bureau Co-Chief nist for USA topics including for the past two Today. Over the politics, religion, celebrity, pop and a half years, he has covered course of his career, he has cov- culture, and feminism. She has the countries of Pakistan, ered the 1984 presidential elec- also worked in radio and has Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Sri tion for Newsweek, the 1988 produced documentaries on sub- Lanka and Bangladesh. In 1994 and 1992 race for Time, and jects as diverse as Satanism, and 1995 he covered the war in written a column on the Clinton heavy metal, and being brought Bosnia for The Christian Science administration for Esquire maga- up by nuns in the 1950s. In 2001 Monitor. His subsequent stories zine. Shapiro, a former White she earned her Ph.D. in history on the massacre of 7,000 Bosn- House speechwriter and a spe- from the University of Sydney. ian Muslims within the town of cial assistant to the Secretary of Her research at the Shorenstein Srebrenica earned him a Pulitzer Labor under President Carter, Center focused on the globaliza- Prize. Rohde, a graduate of holds his B.A. in history from tion of American opinion in the Brown University, is also the the University of Michigan. He lead up to the Iraq war, particu- author of Endgame: The is the author of One-Car Cara- larly in the major cities of allies Betrayal and Fall of Srebrenica.