February 24, 2021
Media Polarization in the US
Public
Zoom Webinar
The French-American Foundation hosted a Zoom Webinar on Wednesday, February 24 at 1:00 pm ET to explore media polarization throughout the United States. Guest speaker Amy Mitchell, Director of Journalism Research at Pew Research Center, led the discussion. The event was moderated by Sewell Chan (Young Leader ’09), Editor of the Editorial Pages at the Los Angeles Times.
Amy Mitchell: Amy S. Mitchell is director of journalism research at Pew Research Center. She is responsible for the Center’s research related to news and information, including how the public accesses, engages with and creates news, what news organizations are providing and how technology is changing all of these elements. Mitchell is an expert in research design, methods evaluation, analysis and writing. She specializes in how technology is changing the flow of news information today and the influence of political identity on news choices.
Sewell Chan: As the editorial page editor, Sewell Chan oversees the editorial board and the Op-Ed and Sunday Opinion pages of the Los Angeles Times. He was named to the position in April 2020. Chan previously served as a deputy managing editor, overseeing foreign and national news coverage; the front page; the Data and Graphics Department; the multiplatform copy desks; newsletters; and the editorial library. He also supervised the home page and audience engagement teams and helped reorganize them into an integrated News Desk. Before joining The Times in September 2018, Chan worked for 14 years at the New York Times, where he was a metro reporter, Washington correspondent, deputy Op-Ed editor and international news editor. Chan began his career in July 2000 as a reporter at the Washington Post, reporting on local government, education and social services. He has also written for the Wall Street Journal and the Philadelphia Inquirer.