Shorenstein Center Announces Fellows and Visiting Faculty for Fall 2009

CAMBRIDGE, MA— The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, located at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, announced their Fall Fellows today.

"The Shorenstein Fellows this semester represent a diverse and highly experienced mix of professionalism and scholarship, and Dan Okrent – our visiting lecturer who is teaching a course heavily weighted toward writing – is without question one of the best writers and editors in the country," said Alex S. Jones, director of the Shorenstein Center.

The Shorenstein Fellows will work on research projects while at the Center. The 2009 Fall Fellows are:

• John G. Geer, Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Vanderbilt University, is the author of In Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns. Geer will examine the news media’s coverage of attack advertising and what role this coverage may have in the recent increase in negativity in political campaigns.
• Loen Kelley is producer of “Justice,” a 12-part series to be broadcast on PBS this fall. During her 20 years in television with CBS, CNN, CNBC and WGBH, she produced television series, long-form documentaries, live daily business news, reality shows and breaking news events. Her research will focus on the evolving roles of television reporters as they adapt to the world of new media.
• Bill Mitchell, the Shorenstein Center’s Sagan Fellow, is a member of the faculty at the Poynter Institute where he leads a new program exploring emerging economic models for news. He was director of electronic publishing for the San Jose Mercury News and held positions at Time and the Detroit Free Press. He will examine frameworks for sustaining news in the public interest.
• Steve Williams, the Shorenstein Center’s Goldsmith Fellow, is executive editor for the BBC’s global channels in the Asia Pacific region extending from Iran through Central Asia to Afghanistan, China and Vietnam. He oversaw the launch of the BBC's Persian TV. At the Shorenstein Center, his research will focus on the media’s impact on foreign policy.

In addition, Daniel Okrent, first public editor of The New York Times, will be the Visiting Edward R. Murrow Lecturer on the Practice of the Press and Public Policy. He will be teaching a course on writing and reporting on politics and public policy.

The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy is a Harvard research center dedicated to exploring the intersection of press, politics and public policy in theory and practice. The Center strives to bridge the gap between journalists and scholars and, increasingly, between them and the public.

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