Shorenstein Center Media and Politics Podcast Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy

"Big, If True" is a webinar series from the Technology and Social Change Research Project at the Shorenstein Center. Hosted by Dr. Joan Donovan, the series focuses on media manipulation, disinformation, and the future of democracy during a pandemic.
In this special episode, Dr. Donovan talks with Jesse Bender, a manager for Steak-umms' Twitter account, about the brand's recent success with viral messaging combating misinformation around the COVID-19 pandemic.
What roles are brand social media accounts playing in today's information ecosystem? How does a sliced frozen meat product become a trusted voice of reason and leader of an online community (and what, exactly, is the Steak-umms community)? Listen in to find out!

Magazines that cover American public affairs, culture, and life have long held an important place in American journalism. But the magazine industry, like the rest of journalism, has struggled in recent years. 
This special edition of our podcast is an audio version of Heidi Legg's new Shorenstein Center Paper "Preserving America's Thought Leader Magazines." https://shorensteincenter.org/preserving-americas-thought-leader-magazines
The paper starts with a brief history of the thought leader magazine with an emphasis on how they built trust, which is key to attracting loyal readers. The discussion then turns to  brand affinity, as it relates to trust and affects revenue streams. Finally, the paper examines how six leading thought leader magazines – New York Magazine, Mother Jones, Wired, The Information, The Atlantic, and Rolling Stone – are all responding to changing public demand and delivery. 
Thanks to Harvard College student Andrew Zucker for producing this audio paper.

How does news and truth survive, when trust in what is fact has suffered and people live in bubbles of isolated realities fed by polarized and fragmented media sources? What is the role of narrative storytelling in this new media landscape? 
Thomas Patterson is the Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press at Harvard Kennedy School, and the author of the recent book "How America Lost Its Mind: The Assault on Reason that is Crippling America." He talks with former Shorenstein Center Fellow and Filmmaker-in-Residence Gabriel London, whose paper titled "Hanging by a Thread: Serialized Narratives in a Post-Factual Era" was just published at ShorensteinCenter.org. 

U.S./China relations have seen huge shifts over the past decade. Jane Perlez, former Beijing Bureau Chief for The New York Times, witnessed much of it during her seven years reporting from China. Her new podcast, On the Trail of Xi Jinping, follows the rise of China's current leader, and how the West got him so wrong. From clinking champagne glasses at the State Department to the lowest ebb in US China relations in 40 years, Perlez and a series of expert China watchers explain what's happened.
For a full transcript of this podcast visit https://shorensteincenter.org/transcript:-on-the-trail-of-xi-jinping/

Local journalism is in crisis, off and online. Years of downsizing in the face of digital disruption have weakened regional and local news organizations. But there are a few glimpses of hope in models for local news across the country.
In this special edition of our podcast, Heidi Legg, the Shorenstein Center's Director of Special Projects, reads her new landscape study on local news models across America. This landscape study includes over 40 mini case studies on outlets that are making the shift, starting fresh, or experimenting with new ways to survive and thrive.
To read the full print version of the paper, visit https://shorensteincenter.org/landscape-local-news-models/

Shorenstein Center Spring 2019 Fellow Edward F. O'Keefe served most recently as Senior Vice President of Content Development at CNN, previously worked as a reporter at ABC News and editor in chief of Now This, and is a media industry expert in mobile, short-form video, OTT and streaming content. His research as a Shorenstein Fellow has focused on why news may be the key to winning the streaming video wars, and who is doing news (even if they don't call it that) in the streaming universe to-date. 
In this special episode of the Shorenstein Center Media & Politics Podcast, Ed O'Keefe reads his paper "Streaming War Won" in its (very engaging) entirety.  
For the original, written, version of this paper visit https://shorensteincenter.org/streaming-war-won/