CCLP Senior Fellow Nicco Mele was recently named the new director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Mele is currently serves as the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Journalism at the University of Southern California and is the former Senior Vice President and Deputy Publisher of the Los Angeles Times.
“Nicco Mele is an innovative thinker and teacher whose work has focused on the intersection of politics, technology, and media,” Kennedy Dean Douglas Elmendorf said in a press release Monday. “We are thrilled that he is returning to the Kennedy School to work with faculty, students, and scholars to advance our understanding of these critically important issues.”
ICYMI: Nicco Mele @nicco named as new director of @shorensteinctr at @Kennedy_School https://t.co/Xcts5f9hF6 #media #journalism
— Shorenstein Center (@ShorensteinCtr) April 26, 2016
Beginning July 1, Mele will succeed interim director Thomas Patterson to head the Shorenstein Center, which explores how the fields of media, politics and public policy intersect and interact with each other. Since its founding in 1986, the center has offered educational programs, conducted research, hosted a visiting fellowship program, presented engaging events and run the Journalist’s Resource website.
“Nicco Mele is the perfect choice to be the Shorenstein Center’s next director,” Patterson said in the press release. “He has a deep understanding of how digital change is affecting the media’s role in our democracy, not only as a source of public information but as a means of citizen advocacy.”
Honored and thrilled to be returning to the @Kennedy_School to lead @ShorensteinCtr – https://t.co/xMU7s0EEhy cc: @morraam
— nicco mele (@nicco) April 25, 2016
At the Los Angeles Times, Mele led the company’s product, content, revenue and audience development, taking charge of growing existing digital products and services as well as working on future business opportunities and products. Mele is the author of The End of Big: How The Internet Makes David The New Goliath, and the co-founder of Echo & Co., a digital consulting firm that aids clients who are facing technological and social change.
Mele combined digital expertise with political savvy as webmaster for Governor Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential bid, as well as for Barack Obama’s successful 2004 campaign for U.S. Senate. Today, he serves on the board of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. Mele taught graduate-level classes on the Internet and politics at the Harvard Kennedy School from 2009 to 2014.