Eating Journalism's Lunch

God help me, I have been going to these "brown bag lunch" talks for quite a few years now. Usually, you sit in a small conference room at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard with maybe 40 people. The speaker is at the head of the table, Alex Jones, dean of the Shorenstein Center, sits to the left and the speaker talks for about 20 or 30 minutes and takes questions for another 20 or so minutes. It is about the only place I know of where you can get close up to people like Rick Kaplan, now head of MSNBC, correct Evan Thomas of Newsweek on his misquoting of John Kerry, and smell the money sweat coming off the likes of Chris Matthews. If you are polite and phrase your comment as a question (academics seems to like a kind of reverse Jeopardy), Alex Jones lets you ask it.

I seem to have developed a reputation for asking uncomfortable questions. That's my job.

These events were listed in the Harvard Gazette up until the Fall of 2004. Perhaps they will be again. Nevertheless, they are open to the public - if you are one of the cognoscenti. My readers are, by definition, definitely included among that select group.

from http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/presspol/News_Events/calendar.shtml

Tuesday, February 8, 12 noon
Secrecy in the Bush Administration: Protecting Intelligence or Disguising Ignorance?
Scott Armstrong
Investigative journalist and executive director of the Information Trust and founder of the National Security Archive.
Kalb Seminar Room, Taubman 275



Thursday, February 10, 12 noon
Code Names—Deciphering U.S. Military Plans, Programs and Operations in the 9/11 World
Alan M. Arkin
Former Army intelligence analyst and consultant, writes a bi-weekly column Dot Mil for washingtonpost.com on national security and the Internet. Co-sponsored with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy
Alison Dining Room, 5th Floor Taubman



Tuesday, February 15, 12 noon
A British Journalist’s Reporting from Washington
Julian Borger
U.S. bureau chief, The Guardian.
Kalb Seminar Room, Taubman 275



Tuesday, February 22, 12 noon
The Polarization of Modern Politics and the Outlook for Change
John Harwood
Political editor, The Wall Street Journal.
Kalb Seminar Room, Taubman 275