CMPA Staff
Dr. S. Robert Lichter
S. Robert Lichter is President of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization in Washington, D.C., which conducts scientific studies of the news and entertainment media.
Dr. Lichter is the author of many books and both scholarly and popular articles on the role of media in society. His most recent books include The Nightly News Nightmare (2002); It Ain’t Necessarily So: How Media Remake the Scientific Picture of Reality (2001); and Peepshow: Media and Politics in an Age of Scandal (2000). His studies are frequently cited in academic venues as well as the popular press, and he has appeared on all major network news shows and many other media outlets.
Dr. Lichter also directs the Statistical Assessment Service (STATS), a nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving the quality of news involving statistical or scientific information, and he serves on the Statistical Committee of Voter News Service. A regular commentator on the Fox News Channel and co-host of “What’s the Story?,” a nationally syndicated radio show, he has testified before Congress and served as an expert witness on media content and effects.
Dr. Lichter holds a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University and a B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota. He has taught media and politics at Princeton, Georgetown, and George Washington universities. He also served as a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow, postdoctoral fellow in politics and psychology at Yale University, and Senior Research Fellow at the Research Institute for International Change at Columbia University.
Linda S. Lichter
Linda Lichter, a sociologist specializing in public opinion/mass media and political sociology , is Vice President of the Center for Media and Public Affairs.
Dr. Lichter has been a senior research associate at the Research Institute on International Change and a lecturer in sociology at Columbia University. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Columbia University where she was a Lehman Fellow. She holds an B.A. in sociology and journalism summa cum laude from American University.
Dr. Lichter is the co-author of several books and monographs including: Watching America: What TV Tells Us About Our Lives, Video Villains: The TV Businessman 1955-86, Prime Time Crime: Criminals and Law Enforcement in TV Entertainment, Italian-Americans in Television Entertainment, The Media Elite: America's New Powerbrokers. She has also published widely on media-related issues and ethnicity. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Washington Journalism Review and Public Opinion.
Matthew T. Felling
Matthew T. Felling serves as Media Director for CMPA, where he studies and scrutinizes the content of news and entertainment media. His analyses are featured frequently in regular interviews with print news outlets worldwide, including The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe and broadcast outlets like "Today," "CBS Evening News," CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and NPR. In addition to sharing his thoughts in interviews, his writings have been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, San Diego Union-Tribune, Portland Oregonian, the Gannett News Service and the World and I.
Unlike many media commentators, Mr. Felling’s journalism acumen is rooted in real-world experience. He covered national affairs on the White House and Capitol beats for the McClendon News Service, wrote on local issues for The Daily Free Press (Boston's second largest daily), worked for WBUR-FM (Boston's National Public Radio Affiliate) and was heard nationally on WJFK-FM (now a CBS station) in Washington, DC. Mr. Felling holds a Master's Degree from Georgetown University’s Communication, Culture and Technology graduate program and a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston University's College of Communication.
Daniel Amundson
Daniel Amundson has been the Research Director at the Center for Media and Public Affairs since 1987. His work in media analysis began in 1982. Mr. Amundson holds a B.A. from George Washington University in Sociology and Political Science.
He is co-author with Dr. S. Robert Lichter of Media Coverage of Religion in America 1969 - 1998 (2000), Merchandizing Mayhem: Violence in Popular Entertainment (1999), Government Goes Down the Tube: Images of Government in TV Entertainment (1999), Distorted Reality: Hispanic Characters in TV Entertainment (1994), Media Coverage of the Catholic Church (1991) and The Video Campaign: Network News Coverage of the 1988 Primaries (1988), as well as several other articles and monographs on TV entertainment, science in the news media and media coverage of health issues.
Mary Carroll Willi
Mary Carroll Willi is the Political Studies Director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs. Since joining the Center in 1989, she has participated in a wide range of media analysis, including numerous projects under the CMPA's ElectionWatch division. She is currently directing all of CMPA's political studies including an ongoing tracking of the administration and Congress and CMPA's ElectionWatch project on media coverage of the 2000 presidential campaign.
Ms. Willi has participated in various studies at the Center ranging from coverage of science issues, social issues, and politics, to coverage of Canada and Germany in the U.S. media. In addition to directing studies of the media, Ms. Willi also produces the Center's bi-monthly newsletter, Media Monitor, as well as other CMPA publications. Ms. Willi is a graduate of George Washington University with a B.A. in Speech Communications.
