Media Experts Refocus Research

The 2001 fall fellows at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy have recently begun their research, with many shifting their focus in light of the recent national tragedy.

The Shorenstein Center, based at the Kennedy School of Government, selects four fellows every semester, based on the area and quality of their research.

The current fellows, representing a variety of expertises and backgrounds, originally came to Harvard intending to explore issues ranging from the role of the Internet as a news source to the freedom of the press, but all four have shifted their research aims to explore the role of the media in a time of national crisis.

A former correspondent in Afghanistan during the Soviet adminstration and in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War, fellow Andrew Glass has extensive experience with global conflict. After working as senior correspondent and Washington bureau chief for Cox Newspapers, Glass came to Harvard in order to study the growing influence of the Internet.

“I came here with the intention of analyzing the Internet’s role in the past electoral campaign, but have since decided to study the impact of the Internet in a time of crisis, since this is the first national crisis in which the Internet has been a factor,” Glass said.

While Glass’s primary focus while in Cambridge will be his research, he is continuing to write his weekly column for Cox, which is syndicated by the New York Times news service.

Ramindar Singh, who has had careers in investigative reporting, political commentary and editing, came to the Shorenstein Center with the goal of pursuing issues concerning the freedom of the press, but has recently changed his proposal to comparing the American press coverage of the World Trade Center tradegy to South Asian coverage of the events.

“My work will involve an analysis of how the American press is covering the events and what that reveals about the Unites State’s foreign policy and other issues of social analysis,” Singh said.

Before coming to Cambridge, Singh was the editor of the Sunday Times of India.

Kevin G. Barnhurst, an associate professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said he feels the recent tragedy has made his research—lookingat the press’s relationship to the public in a democratic society—more relevant than ever.

“Terrorists rely on the media to spread fear and dread. Thus, the press’s unlimited attention to violence serves the purposes of the terrorists as well as the purpose of informing the American public,” said Barnhurst, who plans to study how the press became not only reporters but also interpreters of the news.

“We must examine whether the press is the most desirable institution to be explaining this material to the public,” Barnhurst said.

Barnhurst’s most recent book, The Form of News: A History, was awarded the Covet Award for media history in 2001.

Rick Kaplan, former president of CNN-U.S. and a broadcast journalist for more than 30 years, is returning for his second semester at the Shorenstein Center. Like the other fellows, he said he believes the tragedy plays directly into his research, which focuses on the content of the current media.

“The press plays an important role in educating the public, and it is interesting to notice past laspes and voids in reporting and their impacts,” Kaplan said.

Kaplan also leads a study group for undergraduate and graduate students that explores media content issues in addition to study ing the media’s role in policy formation.

Edie Holway, a member of the selection committee at the Shorenstein Center, said she is very excited about this semester’s fellows and the nature of their research.

“This year’s fellows...represent both scholars and practioners, which is a balance we are always concerned with,” Holway said.