Media Landscape Brightening, Veteran Journalists Say

After a decade of turmoil and job losses, the mainstream media is rebounding and seizing upon new opportunities opened by the Internet and recent private investment, according to speakers at the annual Theodore H. White Lecture on Press and Politics.

This year’s joint lecturers, Mark E. Halperin ’87 and John Heilemann, spoke at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum on Monday night.

Halperin and Heilemann are the co-authors of "Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, Palin, McCain, and the Race of a Lifetime" and serve as managing editors of Bloomberg Politics.

Heilemann focused his talk on the importance of continued evolution within the media, with a special attention to the role of technology.

“We are now in a period of experimentation,” he said. “The period of destruction...is more in the rearview mirror.”

Heilemann cited Wired, a magazine that reports on the influence of technology on culture, politics, and economics, as an example for all media outlets struggling to adapt with the current pace of technological advancement.

Halperin turned his attention to the future of political campaigns. With an eye on the 2016 elections, he outlined steps that he thinks should be taken to foster a more effective and engaging political climate.

His suggestions to politicians included forgetting flip-flop avoidance, embracing controversial stances they support, and saying what they believe regardless of potential backlash.

“If major candidates take these suggestions on board, and the media gives them credit for it instead of criticism, we’ll have happier candidates, happier voters, and even some happier reporters,” Halperin said.

Before Heilemann and Halperin’s lecture, Alex S. Jones, director of the Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy, gave the David Nyhan Prize for Political Journalism to veteran political reporter David Rogers.

Jones highlighted the special connection that this Rogers had to the late David Nyhan. Not only did Rogers promote the same “relentless journalism” as Nyhan, Jones said, but Rogers also worked with Nyhan at The Boston Globe.

Jones added that while at The Globe, Nyhan and Rogers were known for having a similar disregard for authority that led them to ask the big questions and demand answers from those in power.

“[Roger’s] coverage of Congress has been rooted in a staggering work ethic and a belief that people need to know what happens behind closed doors, what is in legislation,” Jones said.

David Rogers has covered Congress for over 30 years, reporting for The Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and now Politico.