Ellen Mickiewicz | Scholars@Duke

Ellen Mickiewicz
James R. Shepley Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Public Policy

Ellen Mickiewicz (Ph.D., Political Science, Yale) is the James R. Shepley Emeritus Professor of Public Policy and Political Science. Her work on media and society compares Russian and American attitudes toward news and questions of media and society in authoritarian systems. Guidebooks presenting policy options for fair and adequate coverage of elections have been translated into 13 languages. In the administration of Boris Yeltsin, a presidential directive explicitly noted the use of the guidebook in creating legislation, and she became the first American to be awarded recognition in a Kremlin ceremony for contributions to freedom of the press in Russia at that time.

Mickiewicz’s research results in policy applications: through the Commission on Radio and Television Policy (founded by former President Jimmy Carter and directed by Mickiewicz), leading figures in news programming, regulation, the Senate and House of Representatives, and public opinion leaders from the United States met annually with heads of television broadcasting, ministers of communications oversight, heads of broadcast technology and public opinion specialists from the former Soviet Union. From 1995 to the present, work continues with Mickiewicz as co-chair with former Vice Chancellor of Austria, Erhard Busek. Meeting in Vienna and in South and South-East Europe, policy issues are discussed and recommendations made and widely circulated; they carry the weight of the signatures of numerous high-level participants from many countries.

Her research explores the effects of the introduction of mass ownership, comparison of news content with the ABC News in the United States, in-depth analysis of the institutional, personnel, political change in television as it developed from Soviet to post-Soviet. Her research has gone into unexplored territory of how citizens of different educational levels, ages, and places use mental tools to make sense of or reject televised news stories. Most recently, she examines future Russian leaders and the impact of the internet to their understanding of their own country, other countries, the complexities of trust and related issues.

Mickiewicz is currently working on American and NATO foreign policy perspectives on hostile internet and television broadcasting, particularly what is termed the “weaponization” of information by the Russian Federation. She examines the theoretical and political basis of this concept and the larger issue of persuasion under these conditions. She is also working on a collaborative project with political science and sociology professors at Moscow State University to design and implement the study of attitudes toward the international system. Her work has been widely covered; she has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim, The Murray Edelman Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Political Communication, from the Political Communication Section of the American Political Science Association, and, from the National Association of Broadcasters and the Broadcast Education Association of Electronic Media Book of the Year.

Current Appointments & Affiliations

James R. Shepley Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University 2014
Professor Emeritus in the Sanford School of Public Policy, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University 2014

Contact Information

205 Tadley Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27514
205 Tadley Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27514
ellen.mickiewicz@duke.edu (919) 933-3978

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Ph.D., Yale University 1965
Duke Appointment History
- Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Political Science, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2016 - 2021
- Professor of Political Science, Political Science, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 1994 - 2014
- Professor with Tenure, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University 1994 - 2014
- Director of the Sanford Institute's DeWitt Wallace Center for the Study of Communications and Journalism, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University 1994 - 1997
Leadership & Clinical Positions at Duke
- Director, DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy, Duke University, Sanford School of Public Policy, 1994-2009
Academic Positions Outside Duke
- Lombard Professor (Visiting), Harvard University. 2001 - 2002
- Kathryn Davis Chair (Visiting), Wellesley College. 1977 - 1978
Recognition
In the News
- JUL 19, 2021
  
  11 Duke-Authored Books on Global Perspectives
Awards & Honors
Expertise
Subject Headings
Global Scholarship
- Expertise
- Teaching
  - Kazakhstan (Country)
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Books
  - Mickiewicz, E. No Illusions: The Voices of Russia’s Future Leaders (expanded with new research - paperback edition) forthcoming. Oxford University Press, 2017.
  - Mickiewicz, E. No Illusions The Voices of Russia's Future Leaders. Oxford University Press, 2014.
  - Mickiewicz, E. Televidenie, Vlast, i Obshchestvo. Moscow: Aspect Press, 2013.
  - Mickiewicz, E. Television, Power, and the Public in Russia. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. Changing Channels: Television and the Struggle for Power in Russia, 2006.
  - Mickiewicz, E. Structural Diversity and Exposure Diversity. University of Washington: Treadgold Papers, 2001.
  - Mickiewicz, E. Democracy and the Media: A Comparative Perspective. Edited by R. Gunther and A. Mughan. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  - Mickiewicz, E. P. Changing Channels: Television and the Struggle for Power in Russia. Duke University Press, 1999.
  - Mickiewicz, E., D. Browne, and C. Firestone. Television/Radio News and Minorities. The Aspen Institute and The Carter Center of Emory University, 1994.
  - Mickiewicz, E., and C. Firestone. Television and Elections. The Aspen Institute, 1992.
  - Mickiewicz, E. Split Signals: Television and Politics in the Soviet Union. Oxford University Press, 1988.
  - Mickiewicz, E. The Soviet Calculus of Nuclear War. Edited by Ellen Mickiewicz and Roman Kolkowicz. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1986.
  - Mickiewicz, E., and R. Kolkowicz, eds. International Security and Arms Control. New York: Praeger, 1986.
  - Mickiewicz, E. Media and the Russian Public. New York: Praeger, 1981.
  - Mickiewicz, E. Handbook of Soviet Social Science Data. Edited by E. Mickiewicz. New York: Free Press, 1973.
  - Mickiewicz, E. Soviet Political Schools. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967.
- Academic Articles
  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Internet and ideological movements in Russia: Collective monography.” Slavic Review 76, no. 1 (March 1, 2017): 192–98. https://doi.org/10.1017/sir.2017.17.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Critical Review.” Slavic Review 76, no. 1 (2017): 192–98. https://doi.org/10.1017/slr.2017.17.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Not ordinary Russians.” Foreign Affairs 94, no. 3 (January 1, 2015).
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Efficacy and Evidence: Evaluating U.S. goals at the American national exhibition in Moscow, 1959.” Journal of Cold War Studies 13, no. 4 (January 1, 2011): 138–71. https://doi.org/10.1162/JCWS_a_00171.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “The Social Construction of Russia's Resurgence: Aspirations, Identity, and Security Interests - By Anne L. Clunan.” Political Psychology 31, no. 2 (April 2010): 305–7. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2009.00757.x.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “When the Press Fails: Political Power and the News Media from Iraq to Katrina. By W. Lance Bennett, Regina G. Lawrence, and Steven Livingston. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. 278p. $22.50 cloth, $15.00 paper.” Perspectives on Politics 7, no. 4 (December 2009): 933–35. https://doi.org/10.1017/s153759270999168x.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Response to W. Lance Bennett's Review of Television, Power, and the Public in Russia.” Perspectives on Politics 7, no. 4 (January 1, 2009): 933. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592709991691.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “The election news story on Russian television: A world apart from viewers.” Slavic Review 65, no. 1 (March 1, 2006): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.2307/4148520.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Excavating concealed tradeoffs: How Russians watch the news.” Political Communication 22, no. 3 (July 1, 2005): 355–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600591006636.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Novosti c ‘golubogo ekrana’: K probleme vliyania [Television News: the Problem of Influence].” Sreda [Media] 5, no. 41 (May 2002).
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Piracy, policy, and Russia's emerging media market.” Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics 6, no. 2 (December 1, 2001): 30–51. https://doi.org/10.1177/108118001129172125.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Russian Television News: Owners and the Public.” Neiman Reports, 1999.
  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Soviet and Post-Soviet Telecommunications: An Industry under Reform. By Robert W. Campbell. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1995. 253 pp. Appendix. Glossary. Tables.” Slavic Review 55, no. 2 (1996): 500–502. https://doi.org/10.2307/2501979.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Public Opinion and Regime Change: The New Politics of Post-Soviet Societies. Edited by Arthur H. Miller, William M. Reisinger, and Vicki L. Hesli. Boulder: Westview, 1993. 310p. $44.95.” American Political Science Review 88, no. 03 (September 1994): 788–89.
  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Public Opinion and Regime Change: The New Politics of Post-Soviet Societies. Edited by Arthur H. Miller, William M. Reisinger, and Vicki L. Hesli. Boulder: Westview, 1993. 310p. $44.95.” American Political Science Review 88, no. 3 (September 1994): 788–89. https://doi.org/10.2307/2944856.
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  - Fedotova, E Mickiewicz with Larissa. “Dva vzglyada na dva mira informatsii [Two Views of Two Worlds of Information].” Seria Zhurnalistiki, 1993.
  - MICKIEWICZ, E. “FROM GLASNOST TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH - BENN,DW.” Europe Asia Studies 45, no. 3 (January 1, 1993): 557–58.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “The Commercialization of Scholarship in the Former Soviet Union.” Slavic Review 52, no. 1 (1993): 90–95. https://doi.org/10.2307/2499587.
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  - Finifter, Ada W., and Ellen Mickiewicz. “Redefining the Political System of the USSR: Mass Support for Political Change.” American Political Science Review 86, no. 04 (December 1992): 857–74.
  - Finifter, Ada W., and Ellen Mickiewicz. “Redefining the Political System of the USSR: Mass Support for Political Change.” American Political Science Review 86, no. 4 (December 1992): 857–74. https://doi.org/10.2307/1964340.
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  - MICKIEWICZ, E. “PERSUASION AND SOVIET POLITICS - BENN,DW.” Soviet Studies 43, no. 1 (January 1, 1991): 189–90.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Rising Voices: Minorities and the Future of Soviet and American Television.” Media Studies Journal, 1991.
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Communication, Mobilization, and Reform.” Sotsiologicheskie Issledovania (Sociological Research) 11 (1991).
  - Mickiewicz, E., and D. P. Jamison. “Ethnicity and Soviet Television News.” Journal of Communication 41, no. 2 (January 1, 1991): 150–61. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1991.tb02314.x.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Culture And The Media In The Ussr Today. Edited by Julian Graffy and Geoffrey A. Hosking. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989. Photographs. Tables, viii, 168 pp. $45.00, cloth.” Slavic Review 50, no. 3 (1991): 691–92. https://doi.org/10.2307/2499870.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Public Opinion and Soviet Nationalities.” Soviet Nationalities 1, no. 1 (1990).
  - Mickiewicz, E. “La TV secondo Gorbaciov.” Relazioni Internazionali, December 1989.
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Soviet Union: The Asymmetrical Mirror.” Gannett Center Journal, October 1989.
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Mobilization and Reform: Political Communication Policy Under Gorbachev.” Ps: Political Science &Amp; Politics 22, no. 2 (January 1, 1989): 199–207. https://doi.org/10.2307/419597.
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  - MICKIEWICZ, E. “SOVIET-TELEVISION AND AMERICA.” Television Quarterly 23, no. 2 (1988): 49–53.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Changes in the Media Under Gorbachev: The Case of Television.” Journal of Communist Studies 4, no. 4 (January 1, 1988): 35–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/13523278808414935.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Mass Culture, Change, and Mobilization: The Media Revolution.” Soviet and Post Soviet Review 15, no. 1–3 (January 1, 1988): 187–200. https://doi.org/10.1163/187633288X00121.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen, and Gregory Haley. “Soviet and American News: Week of Intensive Interaction.” Slavic Review 46, no. 2 (1987): 214–28. https://doi.org/10.2307/2498908.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Soviet and American Television: A Comparison of News Coverage.” Nieman Reports XXXIX, no. 4 (December 1985).
  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Russia's Underground Press: The Chronicle of Current Events (Khronika Tekushchikh Sobytii). By Mark Hopkins. Introduction by Ludmilla Alexeyeva. Foreword by Andrei Sakharov. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1983. xx, 203 pp. $22.95.” Slavic Review 44, no. 2 (1985): 343–44. https://doi.org/10.2307/2497780.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “The Functions of Communications Officials in the USSR: A Biographical Study.” Slavic Review XLIII, no. 4 (December 1984).
  - Mickiewicz, Ellen, Richard H. Shultz, and Roy Godson. “Dezinfomatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy.” Political Science Quarterly 99, no. 4 (1984): 770–770. https://doi.org/10.2307/2150750.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “The Functions of Communications Officials in the USSR: A Biographical Study.” Slavic Review 43, no. 4 (1984): 641–56. https://doi.org/10.2307/2499311.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Feedback, Surueys, and Souiet Communication Theory.” Journal of Communication 33, no. 2 (January 1, 1983): 97–110. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1983.tb02392.x.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “The Bureaucracy of Truth: How Communist Governments Manage the News. By Paul Lendvai. Boulder, Colo, and London: Westview Press and Burnett Books, 1981. 285 pp. Tables. $24.75.” Slavic Review 42, no. 2 (1983): 307–8. https://doi.org/10.2307/2497551.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Stalin’s Successors: Leadership, Stability, and Change in the Soviet Union. By Seweryn Bialer. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980. viii, 312 pp. Tables. $19.95.” Slavic Review 41, no. 1 (1982): 144–45. https://doi.org/10.2307/2496659.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Soviet Regional Policy: A Quantitative Inquiry into the Social and Political Development of the Soviet Republics. By Dellenbrant Jan Åke. (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1981. $30.00.).” American Political Science Review 75, no. 04 (December 1981): 1072–73.
  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Soviet Regional Policy: A Quantitative Inquiry into the Social and Political Development of the Soviet Republics. By Jan Åke Dellenbrant. (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1981. $30.00.).” American Political Science Review 75, no. 4 (December 1981): 1072–73. https://doi.org/10.2307/1962354.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Media and the Russian Public: Watching Television in Russia.” Annual of the International Council of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1981.
  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Women under Communism. By Jancar Barbara Wolfe. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978. Pp. x + 291. $16.00.).” American Political Science Review 74, no. 01 (March 1980): 247–48.
  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Women under Communism. By Barbara Wolfe Jancar. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978. Pp. x + 291. $16.00.).” American Political Science Review 74, no. 1 (March 1980): 247–48. https://doi.org/10.2307/1955739.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Commentary on Marxism and the Work of Bertram Wolfe.” Studies in Soviet Thought 20 (December 1979).
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Comments.” Studies in Soviet Thought 20, no. 4 (December 1, 1979): 361–64. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00818242.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Public Opinion in European Socialist Systems. By Connor Walter D. and Gitelman Zvi Y., with Huszczo Adaline and Blumstock Robert. (New York: Praeger, 1977. Pp. ix + 196. $17.50.).” American Political Science Review 73, no. 02 (June 1979): 626–27.
  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Public Opinion in European Socialist Systems. By Walter D. Connor and Zvi Y. Gitelman, with Adaline Huszczo and Robert Blumstock. (New York: Praeger, 1977. Pp. ix + 196. $17.50.).” American Political Science Review 73, no. 2 (June 1979): 626–27. https://doi.org/10.2307/1954968.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Regional Social Class Recruitment in the CPSU: Indicators of Decentralization, Power, and Policy.” Soviet Union 5, no. 1 (July 1978).
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Regional Variation in Female Recruitment and Advancement in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.” Slavic Review XXXVI, no. 3 (September 1977).
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Evaluation studies of soviet party members.” Public Opinion Quarterly 40, no. 4 (January 1, 1976): 482–87. https://doi.org/10.1086/268334.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “The Soviet Volunteers: Modernization and Bureaucracy in a Public Mass Organization. By Odom William E.. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973. Pp. xv, 360. $14.50.).” American Political Science Review 69, no. 01 (March 1975): 337–38.
  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “The Soviet Volunteers: Modernization and Bureaucracy in a Public Mass Organization. By William E. Odom. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973. Pp. xv, 360. $14.50.).” American Political Science Review 69, no. 1 (March 1975): 337–38. https://doi.org/10.2307/1958000.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Policy applications of public opinion research in the Soviet Union.” Public Opinion Quarterly 36, no. 4 (January 1, 1972): 566–78. https://doi.org/10.1086/268039.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “The Modernization of Party Propaganda in the U.S.S.R.” Slavic Review XXX, no. 2 (June 1971).
  - Mickiewicz, E. “The Status of Soviet Women (review essay).” Problems of Communism, 1971.
  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “[no title].” American Political Science Review 63, no. 01 (March 1969): 173–74.
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Communications.” American Political Science Review 63, no. 1 (January 1, 1969): 173–74. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055400282026.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Soviet Institutions, The Individual and Society. By Hulicka Karel and Hulicka Irene M.. (Boston: Christopher Publishing House, 1967. Pp. xviii, 680. $12.00.).” American Political Science Review 62, no. 02 (June 1968): 657–58.
- Book Sections
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Elite Russian Students’ Internet Strategies: Trust, Persuasion, and Rejection.” In Societies and Political Orders in Transition, 197–211, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33016-3_10.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Ethnic Differentiation and Political Communication.” In Soviet Social Problems, 24–38, 2019.
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Making the media work: Soviet society and communications.” In Soviet Society Under Gorbachev: Current Trends and the Prospects for Change, 131–50, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315493657.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “The conundrum of memory: Young people and their recollection of Soviet television.” In The Post-Soviet Russian Media: Conflicting Signals, 125–36, 2008. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203886625.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Does 'trust' mean attention, comprehension and acceptance? Paradoxes of Russian viewers' news processing.” In Mass Media and Political Communication in New Democracies, 163–82, 2005. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203328668.
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  - Mickiewicz, E. “Dilemmas of Democracies.” In Transatlantic Differences, edited by W. Zacharasiewicz. Bohlau Wien Verlag, 2004.
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Institutional Incapacity, the Attentive Public, and Media Pluralism in Russia.” In Democracy and the Media: A Comparative Perspective, edited by R. Gunther and A. Mughan. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Transition and Democracy: The Role of Journalists in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.” In The Politics of News, the News of Politics, edited by D. Graber, D. McQuail, and P. Norris. Congressional Quarterly Press, 1998.
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Media, Transition,and Democracy: Television and the Transformation of Russia.” In A Communications Cornucopia, edited by R. G. Noll and M. E. Price. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 1998.
  - Mickiewicz, E., and A. Richter. “Television, Campaigning, and Elections in the Soviet Union and Post-Soviet Russia.” In Politics, Media, and Modern Democracy, edited by D. Swanson and P. Mancini, 1996.
  - Mickiewicz, E. “The Political Economy of Media Democratization.” In Russia in Transition, edited by D. Lane. Longman, 1995.
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Images of America.” In Beyond the Cold War: Soviet and American Media Images, edited by E. E. Dennis, G. Gerbner, and Y. N. Zassoursky. Sage Publications Inc., 1991.
  - Mickiewicz, E., and D. P. Jamison. “Ethnicity and Soviet Television News.” In Mass Culture and Perestroika in the Soviet Union, edited by M. Siefert. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1991.
- Other Articles
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Political Journalism.” The Encyclopedia of Political Science. Congressional Quarterly Press, 2010.
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Television.” Edited by S. Pons and R. Service. Encyclopedia of Communism. Oxford University Press, 2010.
  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Russian Television Today: Primetime Drama and Comedy.” Slavic Review, 2009.
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  - Mickiewicz, Ellen. “Media and power in post-Soviet Russia.” Political Communication, 2006. https://doi.org/10.1080/10584600600809107.
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  - MICKIEWICZ, E. “Reinventing the Soviet Self - Media and Social Change in the Former Soviet Union.” The Russian Review. Wiley, July 1996. https://doi.org/10.2307/131827.
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  - Mickiewicz, E., and A. Brown. “Television and Political Change.” Cambridge Encyclopedia of Russia and the Soviet Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
- Conference Papers
  - Mickiewicz, E. “Leadership and the Media: The European Challenge.” In 3rd International Conference Proceedings, 2005.
Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
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Education, Training, & Certifications

Duke Appointment History

Leadership & Clinical Positions at Duke

Academic Positions Outside Duke

In the News

Awards & Honors

Subject Headings

Global Scholarship

Expertise

Teaching

Selected Publications

Books

Academic Articles

Book Sections

Other Articles

Conference Papers

Presentations & Appearances

Outreach & Engaged Scholarship

Service to the Profession