Shorenstein Center announces fellows, visiting faculty

The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, located at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, recently announced its fall fellows.

“There has never been a more challenging — nor a more exciting — time to focus on the press, politics, and public policy, and our fellows and visiting faculty this semester offer a fresh and compelling perspective on all that is happening,” said Alex S. Jones, director of the Shorenstein Center.

The Shorenstein Fellows will work on research projects while at the center. The 2008 fall fellows are as follows:

Sandra Nyaira, reporter for the Association of Zimbabwe Journalists, was the political editor for the now-banned Zimbabwean independent newspaper, the Daily News. Her work at the Shorenstein Center will focus on new media and its influence on public policy and politics in Zimbabwe.

Rory O’Connor, author, blogger, journalist, and filmmaker, is the co-founder and president of the media firm Globalvision Inc. and oversees the nonprofit media watchdog site MediaChannel.org. O’Connor is a Sagan Fellow and will do research and write a paper on trust, journalism, and social networks.

Eric Pooley, contributor to Time magazine, is the Shorenstein Center’s Kalb Fellow. He has been managing editor of Fortune, editor of Time Europe, and national editor of Time. He will focus on press coverage of the climate change issue.

Edward Schumacher-Matos, founder of Rumbo Newspapers and Meximerica Media, was Buenos Aires bureau chief at The New York Times and later was the founding editor and associate publisher of The Wall Street Journal Americas. He will focus on how media coverage, activist campaigns, and the presidential election impact public opinion.

In addition, Maralee Schwartz will be the Visiting Edward R. Murrow Lecturer on the Practice of the Press and Public Policy. She will teach a course titled “How Politicians Connect with Voters: The 2008 Presidential Campaign.” Schwartz spent more than two decades as a reporter and editor at The Washington Post.

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.