Shorenstein announces spring fellows

The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government recently announced its group of spring fellows.

“This semester promises to be one of the most exciting in memory at the Shorenstein Center, with a group of fellows and a visiting lecturer who are all recognized as being at the very top of their field,” said Alex Jones, the center’s director. “It is hard to imagine a better lineup of people to address the press problems of today.”

The Shorenstein Fellows will work on research projects while at the center. The spring 2006 fellows are as follows:

Kimberly Gross, assistant professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University. She will examine how local television news framing of crime affects both the emotions viewers experience and the crime policies they support.

Charles Lewis, president of The Fund for Independence in Journalism and founder of the Center for Public Integrity. His research will focus on the viability of the nonprofit journalism model.

Daniel Okrent, first public editor at the New York Times. His research will be divided between an inquiry into the role of ombudsmen and a study of newspaper influence on public opinion in the 1920s.

Robert Picard, professor of media economics, Jönköping University, Sweden. Picard will study how news organizations create value for audiences and why audiences’ perception of the worth of news has declined in recent decades.

Cristine Russell, freelance science writer. She will examine the role of the media in reporting on science and public policy.

In addition, John C. Carroll, former Los Angeles Times editor, has joined the Shorenstein Center as the first Knight Visiting Lecturer, a position for distinguished journalists who will study, analyze, and comment on the future of journalism in America and around the world.

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.