Shorenstein Center Selects Former Journalists, Political Analysts as Fellows

A former National Public Radio (NPR) bureau chief, a prize-winning Chinese journalist and a Romanian political expert will be among the five fellows studying at the Kennedy School of Government's (KSG) media studies center this spring.

The fellows, announced yesterday, will study at the KSG's Shorenstein Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy, each researching a particular topic drawn from their real-world media experience.

Thomas Benson, an instructor of rhetoric, political communications and media criticism at Pennsylvania State University, was one of the appointees. While serving as a fellow, Benson will examine the relationship between presidential speechmaking, policy making and the press.

Michael Goldfarb, former London bureau chief for NPR and 1993 recipient of the Britain's Sony Prize for Best Writing in Radio, Was also named a fellow.

U.S. military historian William Hammond will investigate the Army's accreditation process for reporters during the Vietnam War during his fellowship.

Xiguang Li, author and senior editor of the Xinhua News Agency in China, will research the birth of a new kind of journalism in a more market-driven Chinese society. Romanian journalist and political author Alina Pippidi-Mungiu will focus on television reform in East-central Europe.

In addition to the five fellows, the Center named Wolfgang Donsbach the visiting Lombard professor, a position created to "help build a substantial body of knowledge concerning the interaction of media and politics," according to a center press release.

Donsbach is a professor of communications at the Dresden University of Technology in Germany.