KSG’s Shorenstein Center names fall fellows

An editor of a feminist journal in Iran, a peace and disarmament correspondent, and the former editor in chief of the Financial Times are among the fellows at the Kennedy School’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy this semester.

“The breadth and achievement of this year’s fellows is stunning,” said Alex Jones, director of the Shorenstein Center. “We are anticipating an extremely exciting semester.”

James T. Hamilton of Duke University has been named the visiting associate professor in the Kalb Chair on Global Communications, named in honor or Marvin Kalb, founding director of the center and former distinguished diplomatic correspondent for CBS and NBC News and moderator of “Meet the Press.” Says Jones, “Jay is one of the nation’s foremost authorities on the media and violence and media economics.”

The 2002 fall fellows are as follows:

Roza Eftekhari is the senior editor of Zanan magazine, Iran’s first feminist journal. After graduating from Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, she started working on women’s issues in Iran and joined the magazine. Eftekhari was in charge of developing the ideas section of Zanan, which is a lively forum for heated discussion about the role of women and the dynamics of patriarchy in Iran and the Islamic world in general. Her research at the Shorenstein Center will examine the impact Zanan magazine has had on public policy in its 10 years of existence.

Jack Hamilton is dean of the Manship School of Mass Communication at Louisiana State University (LSU) and is the Hopkins P. Breazeale LSU Foundation Professor. He is also a commentator on “MarketPlace,” a daily public radio program broadcast nationally. He joined LSU after more than 20 years as a journalist. Hamilton has reported for the Milwaukee Journal, the Christian Science Monitor, and ABC Radio, among others, and has authored several books including “Main Street America” and “Third World and Entangling Alliances: How the Third World Shapes Our Lives.” He has held assignments in more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from Marquette University and Boston University, respectively, and a doctorate in American civilization from George Washington University. As a fall fellow, he will examine a new model for assessing the way Americans get foreign news.

Richard Lambert is a columnist and commentator with a special interest in Europe, the Atlantic alliance, and globalization. He was editor in chief of the Financial Times from 1991 until 2001. While remaining editor in chief of the newspaper, he relocated to New York in 1997 to launch the U.S. edition. Lambert joined the paper after graduating from Oxford University. Prior positions include editor of the Lex investment column, New York bureau chief, financial editor, and deputy editor. Since leaving the Financial Times, he has been a columnist and lecturer. At the center, Lambert will investigate the way in which nongovernmental organizations and the media together have influenced public policy.

Jack Nelson, a journalist for more than 50 years, served as the Los Angeles Times’ Washington bureau chief from 1975 to 1997, and as its chief Washington correspondent from 1997 to 2001. He covered civil rights as the Times’ Atlanta bureau chief. While working as a reporter for The Atlanta Constitution, Nelson won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing conditions at Milledgeville State Hospital, then the world’s largest mental institution. He is the author of “Terror in the Night: The Klan’s Campaign Against the Jews,” and “Captive Voices: High School Journalism in America.” Nelson was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard during the 1961-62 academic year. As a fall fellow, he will be writing about the increasing secrecy in the U.S. government.

Jonathan Schell, The Nation’s peace and disarmament correspondent, is also the Harold Willens Peace Fellow at the Nation Institute. Formerly a writer and editor with The New Yorker, he has written extensively on the nuclear question. From 1967 until 1987, he was the principal writer of The New Yorker’s “Notes & Comments” section. Schell is the author of several books, including “The Village of Ben Suc,” “The Time of Illusion,” “The Fate of the Earth” (nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Critics Award), and “Writing In Time: A Political Chronicle.” From 1990 until 1996, Schell wrote a column for Newsday and New York Newsday. He is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a MacArthur Foundation Grant for Writing on Peace and Security. Schell has taught at Princeton University, New York University’s School of Journalism, Emory University, Wesleyan University, and The New School for Social Research. At the Shorenstein Center, Schell will examine the changing role of the American political system over time.

The 2002 visiting fellow:

James T. Hamilton is the Oscar L. Tang Family Associate Professor of Public Policy, Economics, and Political Science at the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University. His work focuses on the impact of information provision in media markets and in environmental policy. His book “Channeling Violence: The Economic Market for Violent Television Programming” won the 1999 Goldsmith Book Prize for the year’s best book on media and public policy. He is currently working on a book titled “News Goods: How the Market Transforms Information into News,” which addresses the economics of public affairs coverage. He has published environmental policy articles on Superfund, the Toxics Release Inventory, and environmental justice. He earned his A.B. and Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. As the visiting associate professor in the Kalb Chair on global communications, Hamilton will teach a course titled “Media Economics” in the fall semester.