'Face the Nation's' Schieffer To Join Kennedy School as Fellow

Veteran CBS reporter and retired “Face the Nation” moderator Bob Schieffer will join the Kennedy School of Government in the fall as the third Walter Shorenstein Media and Democracy fellow, the school’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy announced on Tuesday.

Schieffer, who retired from his longtime post at “Face the Nation” on May 31, will be in residence at the Kennedy School at least two times each semester until December 2016 and discuss the upcoming 2016 presidential election with students and faculty during his time on campus.

“This [election] is going to be very, very different—I’m not sure we’ve seen anything quite like it,” Schieffer said in an interview. “The fact that you’re starting so soon and the whole system is totally awash with money now —it’s going to be a very, very different experience, not just for the reporters trying to cover it but also the candidates themselves.”

Although the topics and timeline for Schieffer’s fellowship have not yet been finalized, Schieffer highlighted campaign finance laws, their impact on candidacies, and their relationship to the vision of America’s Founding Fathers as a potential area of focus.

“We’re not moving forward in campaign finance laws and how we police our campaigns—we’re moving backwards, and I think that’s one of the things worthy of discussion,” Schieffer reflected.

The Media and Democracy fellows are selected by invitation at the discretion of Shorenstein Center Director Alex S. Jones with input from Kennedy School Dean David T. Ellwood ’75 and the fellowship’s donors, Doug and Lydia Shorenstein, according to the center’s fellows program manager, Katie Miles.

“Bob Schieffer has been such a beacon in journalism for many, many years and has also had ties to the Shorenstein family,” Miles said. “It couldn’t have been a better fit for the center, and for the mission of the fellowship, and the vision that the donors had for this specific fellowship program.”

—Staff writer Luca F. Schroeder can be reached at luca.schroeder@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @lucaschroeder.