Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism appoints its first Director
Dr Bose, who held teaching and research positions at Harvard University, Warwick University and George Washington University, is currently a Visiting Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Bombay, where she teaches politics and governance.
She also has a distinguished career as a broadcast and print journalist, and as a prominent newspaper commentator in India. She has worked as an academic and journalist on a wide range of topics including aspects of politics, public policy, economics, and Asian studies and international affairs.
The Reuters Institute, established by the Department of Politics and International Relations and funded by the Reuters Foundation to act as a bridge between academia and journalism, opens in autumn 2006. The Institute will take a deliberately global perspective, analysing the practice of journalism worldwide, and the relationship between journalism, government and modern societies in the digital age. Dr Bose’s experience of both worlds will allow her to establish the Institute as a centre of excellence in the study of journalism when she takes up the post in September 2006.
Commenting on the aims of the Institute, Dr Sarmila Bose said: ‘Oxford University is in a position to apply the highest standards of analytical scrutiny to public information provided by news media, in a global, comparative framework. The Institute will bring the depth, rigour and range of scholarship at Oxford in a vibrant and productive engagement with the world of practice.’
The Chair of The Reuters Institute Steering Committee, Tim Gardam, said: ‘Dr Bose’s appointment reflects the mission of the Reuters Institute to bring a consciously global perspective to the practice of journalism and its implications in the digital age. She is uniquely qualified to lead the conversation between the worlds of academic research and practising journalism worldwide at a time when the divisions between local, national and international news are breaking down.’
The Head of the Department of Politics and International Relations, Professor Neil MacFarlane, said: ‘Dr Bose’s career embodies the bridge we are trying to build between journalism and academic life. Her training at Harvard and ongoing professional academic activity ensure the rigour that we expect from the Institute. Equally, her extensive experience as an eminent broadcast and print reporter ensures that the Institute will speak effectively to the practitioner community in journalism. The appointment of Dr Bose also speaks to the Institute’s desire to understand the evolution of media in its global, as well as national context.’
Dr Bose will be a Fellow of Green College.
The website for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, which will officially launch on Monday 20 November 2006, is at: http://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/.
