News Media

Algorithms — a series of steps undertaken to solve a particular problem — are an integral element of our digital environment. Operating in search engines, personalized news systems, global financial markets, political campaigns and many more areas, algorithms hold ever-increasing power in society, as they steer decisions and make choices about what is or isn’t important. However, as algorithms become even more complex, concerns continue to grow over their lack of transparency.

From the perils of analytics-obsessed journalism to the promise of micro crowdsourcing, new research papers have furnished a wealth of insights to ponder over the past month.

Below is a sample of new thinking from various corners of the research world.

Throughout the academic year, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center hosts a weekly speaker series. Over the spring semester in 2014, these events featured a wide variety of journalists and media thinkers, from Julia Angwin and Andrew Revkin to Demorah Amos and Brian McGrory. We’ve rounded up discussions of interest for journalists and media members of all kinds; topics of conversation range from media coverage of Syria to the struggle to maintain privacy in a world of omnipresent surveillance.

From health care reform and global warming to marijuana legalization and same-sex marriage, voters are increasingly polarized, particularly along partisan lines. In this context, the level of fragmentation in the media landscape is assumed to be an important explanation for this polarization.

Throughout the academic year, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center hosts a weekly Speaker Series. Over the fall 2014 semester, these events have featured a wide variety of journalists and media thinkers, from Charles M. Blow of The New York Times to Miriam Elder of BuzzFeed. The topics of conversation have ranged from the rise of citizen journalism to the need to reform the U.S. presidential election system to promote greater democracy.

From the Scholars Strategy Network, written by Jeffrey M. Berry and Sarah Sobieraj, Tufts University