Dr. Kumar is professor of political science at Towson University, and is one of the foremost authorities on coverage of the president and on the White House Communications Operation. She's the author and co-author of several books, including this newly updated one, "Managing the President's Message."

Joan Dassin is Executive Director of the Ford Foundation International Fellowship Program. She's been involved since the beginning, coordinating the program's initial design process in 1999 and becoming Executive Director when the organization was created in 2001. Prior to her current position, she served as the Ford Foundation's representative to Brazil and as Regional Director for Latin America. Rob Buchanan is President of the El-Hibri Charitable Foundation, having previously served as Managing Director of International Programs for the Council on Foundations. He spent ten years with Oxfam America, five of those as program Director for the horn of Africa. His resume also includes staff positions with the US Senate and House of Representatives.

ALICIA SHEPARD was appointed NPR's ombudsman in 2007. In 2000, NPR became the first US broadcast news organization to create an ombudsman position. She's been a reporter, author, and educator. She currently teaches a graduate-level media ethics course at Georgetown University. CLARK HOYT is the third public editor appointed by the New York Times. He served previously as the Washington bureau chief for Knight Ridder newspapers. His initial two-year term at the times began in 2007 and has since been extended for another two years. ANDY ALEXANDER is the ombudsman for the Washington Post. He's been a reporter and editor for almost 40 years. Before joining the post in 2009, he had spent his entire career working for the Cox newspaper chain, where he served as Washington bureau chief.

Mircea Munteanu is a diplomatic historian who serves as project associate for both the History and Public Policy Program and the Cold War International History Project. Bernd Schaefer is the Cold War Project's senior research scholar. Previously, he was a research fellow at the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C. and at the Hannah Arendt Institute at the Technical University of Dresden.