USC Annenberg Agenda Spring 2012

agenda

News from the usc annenberg school for communication and Journalism spring 2012

usc annenberg

Step inside the future of USC Annenberg

Note from the Dean

The future of USC Annenberg is taking shape in a fivestory state-of-the-art building at the center of campus. Wallis Annenberg Hall—with its soaring atrium, flexible spaces and rooms that connect­rather than contain—is a fitting metaphor for the ever-changing fields of communication, journalism, public relations and public diplomacy. From the time we break ground this July until the new building opens in 2014, we will continue to experience and prepare for continuous change.

When the original USC Annenberg building was dedicated in 1976, social media, online advertising and even personal computers were years into the future. Today, we plan to construct a building that not only includes the latest technology for digital production and research collaboration, but that will allow flexible expansion into new areas of inquiry and practice for many years to come. The pace of innovation shows no signs of slowing, and we must consider the undiscovered possibilities of tomorrow as we build today. Our new academic building will create an environment where innovation and creativity are actively encouraged to take root and blossom, a place where public, instructional and research spaces foster unexpected opportunities and unconventional ideas.

Wallis Annenberg Hall is designed to bridge the traditional and transformational. The building’s Collegiate Gothic exterior pays tribute to the traditions and interdisciplinary strengths of the University of Southern California, while the modern

interior, with its focus on transparency and collaboration, is the physical reflection of the fields we teach—professions that are literally changing before our eyes.

USC Annenberg will always be guided by principles of transparency, innovation, and collaborative learning and research. The new Wallis Annenberg Hall will express and advance these values, providing exciting, unique spaces that encourage serendipitous and deliberate interactions, and ensuring that multiple voices and visions intermingle in ways that enrich the whole. We are grateful to Wallis Annenberg for her vision and generosity that allow us to think boldly and dream audaciously in a space designed for the possibilities of the 21st century and beyond.

As we stand on the threshold, ready to take the next steps into USC Annenberg’s future, I look forward to working with you as we advance the pursuit of possibility.

Sincerely,

Dean Ernest J. Wilson III Walter H. Annenberg Chair in Communication

heard at annenberg

There are two types of people in this world.

There are people who lean back….They tend to be pessimists. They see the glass as half-empty.

The other person leans forward, wakes up with a sense of optimism, doesn’t blame other people for their woes, sees a problem as an opportunity—not as something that’s defeating them.

What kind of person do you want to be?”

Ken Auletta, author, journalist and media critic for The New Yorker, speaking at USC Annenberg on Sept. 22

F e at u r e s

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A tribute to Norman Corwin He was a playwright, a prolific author, a poet, a composer, and the “prime minister” of radio. But for the USC Annenberg family, Norman Corwin was one of our most beloved friends.

Spring 2012 EDITOR Alex Boekelheide EXECUTIVE EDITOR Kay Heitzman CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ivana Banh, Amelia Brodka, Jackson DeMos, Laura J. Nelson, Gretchen Parker, Jeremy Rosenberg, Sammi Wong CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Dan Avila, Dennis Martinez, Alan Mittelstaedt, Gus Ruelas, Maggie Smith, Neftalie Williams

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Building for the future, honoring the past Inspired by a landmark gift from The Annenberg Foundation, USC Annenberg is planning a new facility that will propel the school into the future. With a technologically advanced “all-media news floor,” flexible collaboration and education spaces, and a four-story public forum, Wallis Annenberg Hall is designed to embody the fundamental principles of communication and journalism.

Giving the next generation a boost When they volunteered to serve as mentors to current USC Annenberg students, three alumni continued a longstanding USC Annenberg tradition—and built connections that last.

also inside...

News Briefs Student News Faculty Notes Research News Alumni Notes

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DESIGN Etch Creative USC ANNENBERG ADMINISTRATION Ernest J. Wilson III, Dean Larry Gross, Vice Dean and Director, School of Communication Geneva Overholser, Director, School of Journalism BOARD OF COUNCILORS Jarl Mohn, Chair Ron Rogers, Vice Chair Wallis Annenberg Carole Black Lauren Bon Louise Henry Bryson Frank H. Cruz Harris Diamond Larry Irving Mickey Kantor Markos Kounalakis Norman Lear Wendy Luers Paula Madison Marc B. Nathanson Bruce M. Ramer Linda Johnson Rice Cristine Russell Frederick J. Ryan Jr. Rockwell A. Schnabel George Schweitzer Wellen Sham Jeffrey Smulyan Charles Annenberg Weingarten Gregory Annenberg Weingarten Ernest J. Wilson III John F. Cooke, Chair Emeritus Ronald L. Olson, Founding Chair Annenberg Agenda is published twice a year by the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

We welcome your feedback. Send your comments to boekelhe@usc.edu.

The University of Southern California admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin. annenberg.usc.edu

news briefs

Olympics conference brings international leaders to campus International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge spoke to journalism professor Alan Abrahamson and a standing-room-only crowd of more than 350 during a talk titled “The State of the Games,” part of a conference sponsored by the USC Annenberg Institute of Sports, Media and Society. Rogge, who will step down from his role as chief organizer of the Games in 2013, offered some brief advice for his successor: “Learn to listen and shut up.”

The three-day conference, co-sponsored by the University of Paris-Sorbonne Nouvelle and the USC Athletic Department, drew together scholars and athletes from around the world to discuss the past, present and future of international competition. USC was an appropriate setting for the discussion—at least one gold medal has been won by a Trojan athlete at every Summer Olympics held since 1912, and USC will attempt to extend the streak this summer in London.

To learn more, visit annenberg.usc.edu/olympicgames

Panel explores media

diversity in a digital age

Communication policy specialists and journalists gathered at USC for a discussion on media diversity in the digital age, building on findings published in a recent Federal Communications Commission report, “Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age.” “The question of how to engender civic engagement across all platforms of society and across all dimensions of diverse populations is a critical issue for society as a whole,” Dean Ernest J. Wilson III said as he opened the discussion.

The changes in media over the last half-dozen years have thrown experts for a loop, report author Steven Waldman said: Even as newspapers have folded across the country, innovative forms of new media have popped up and thrived. Newsrooms have seen an increase in hyperlocal coverage but have lost much of the traditional “accountability reporting” and beat coverage as staffs shrank to pre-Watergate levels. Similar problems have affected the diversity of newsrooms.

“There have been so many innovations that have been very positive, that have advanced the bar to where it never used to be,”

Waldman said. “But by some of the traditional measures, things are going backwards.”

In 2011, the National Association of Black Journalists surveyed 228 stations owned by 15 companies, Robert Butler, NABJ’s vice president Steven Waldman for broadcast, said. Eleven percent of managers were people of color. Stations often are reluctant to release that information, he said, and stressed that disclosure is the only way to improve the situation.

“Companies themselves don’t know how much diversity they don’t have,” Butler said. “If I know what your diversity is, I can help you. If I don’t, I can’t.”

Butler recommended that HR employees take a newsroom hiring manager to recruiting events and job fairs, so newsroom leadership can point out which traits they find most important in prospective candidates.

To learn more, visit annenberg.usc.edu/fcc

Debate team takes its place in history Undergraduate engineering student Maria Mohammed spoke on the effectiveness of civil disobedience as a change agent at Wiley College, in Marshall, Texas, in an intercollegiate debate event with strong historical overtones.

Nearly 80 years ago, Wiley College students traveled to Los Angeles to debate their peers from USC, crossing barriers of color and class to prove that students at the all-black school were as adept at argumentation as anyone else. The competition was chronicled in the 2007 movie “The Great Debaters,” with Denzel Washington as Wiley College debate coach Melvin B. Tolson.

While Wiley’s team was judged the winner in 1935, this year, USC Annenberg coach Gordon Stables said the level of rhetorical skill on display meant “everyone in attendance won the debate.”

To learn more, visit annenberg.usc.edu/debate

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Ten years later, a behind-the-scenes accounting of the Enron scandal

USC Annenberg students and faculty got the inside scoop on one of history’s most famous corporate failures when John Emshwiller, the lead Wall Street Journal reporter covering the story, and Karen Denne (B.A. Print Journalism ’91), a key member of Enron’s public relations team, provided a blow-by-blow account of the company’s downfall.

Denne was part of the team that released a crucial financial statement, piquing the interest of Emshwiller and his colleagues and setting the story in motion. She relayed how she worked through the night to prepare the release, and when she pressed her superiors for more information about some questionable figures, she was told that there was nothing to worry about.

Ultimately, though, the sections that concerned Karen Denne (B.A. Print Journalism ’91) discusses her her were “the very quotes experience at Enron and phrases” that drew the attention of the reporters at the Journal, she said.

At many points the speakers drew parallels to the current global financial downturn. Emshwiller highlighted the different regulatory responses to the two crises, pointing out that while key members of Enron’s executive team went to prison for their crimes, current financial executives haven’t faced the same legal consequences. He credited the difference to the intense investigation that followed Enron’s bankruptcy—by his account, “the largest federal investigation ever of a single corporation.”

“They had a dozen federal prosecutors, and probably 20 to 25 FBI, IRS and SEC investigators, working full-time for four years,” he said. “I suspect if you did that with any other corporation, you’d probably find some things.”

“And Jeff Skilling wouldn’t be the only one serving time,” Denne added.

Led by moderator and journalism professor Gabriel Kahn, the event was part of USC Annenberg’s Media, Economics & Entrepreneurship initiative, which explores issues of communication and journalism from an economic perspective.

To learn more, visit annenberg.usc.edu/enrondecade

USC Annenberg scholars join a group bike ride in South L.A.

Point, shoot, pedal:

Mobile devices bring South L.A. bike ride into focus Group bicycle rides in South Los Angeles have enlisted a research project at USC Annenberg to use everyday cell phones for mapping.

The USC Annenberg project, called ParTour, was the basis for a real-time map created by the ride’s 60 or so cyclists, who snapped cell phone photos and uploaded them via text message as they rode from Augustus Hawkins Natural Park to the iconic Watts Towers.

Communication professor François Bar and other team leaders asked cyclists to take photos of anything they found interesting, which ranged from dolphin statues to scenes of the parade of bikes. The map came together in real time on Bar’s iPad, which he mounted on his handlebars during the ride for other participants to watch.

“It’s interesting to see how people behave when documenting their surroundings becomes a mission,” Bar said.

“They start seeing things differently – store signs, shops, homes – that they’ve passed many times before, but just weren’t looking.”

ParTour is a joint effort of USC Annenberg’s new Mobile Lab—led by Bar—and the Metamorphosis Project, which studies changing urban communities under professor Sandra Ball-Rokeach. It is supported in part by the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab. The effort brings together a diverse group of partner organizations around the city with a focus on bicycle and social change advocacy, including T.R.U.S.T. South LA, C.I.C.L.E., Bikerowave, the East Side Riders Bike Club and CicLAvia.

To learn more, visit annenberg.usc.edu/partour

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STUDENT NEWS

Journalism class profiles GOP nominees

for Marketplace

Finding rational explanations for irrational thinking Humans systematically make irrational decisions and poor estimates, but new research shows that realworld biases such as prejudice and self-aggrandizement may be explained by simple “noisy” deviation in our mental processes.

In his paper “Toward a Synthesis of Cognitive Biases: How Noisy Information Processing Can Bias Human Decision Making,” USC Annenberg doctoral student Martin Hilbert synthesizes decades of research on human decision making and proposes a model of memory recall that explains irrationality—and could even predict and replicate other forms of human bias.

“The future challenge shifts from describing and blindly replicating human irrationality in empirical experiments to deepening our understanding of the processes that create these biases,” Hilbert, a USC Provost’s fellow, says.

For the paper in the leading journal Psychological Bulletin, Hilbert received support from colleagues at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and the department of psychology in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. His research shows how introducing computermodeled “noise” to models of mental processes can explain a range of seemingly unconnected biases shown in past psychology experiments.

As Hilbert explains, our biases may be the natural byproduct of biological evolution and flaws in the mind, our information processing system. His model of a “noisy memory channel” provides a first step toward a mathematical definition for psychological concepts that describe irrationality in decision-making.

To learn more, visit annenberg.usc.edu/noisyinfo

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The American Public Media radio program “Marketplace” published eight online profiles of Republican presidential contenders written by students in journalism professor Gabriel Kahn’s economics reporting class.

Each student in the Journalism 599: Follow the Money: The Art and Craft of Business and Economics Reporting class researched the policy positions, speeches and public comments of the original eight GOP contenders. Then the students crafted a template to make it easy to compare candidates on issues such as defense spending or tax policy. “Marketplace” commissioned a portrait gallery of the candidates, and the package went live.

Earlier in the semester, Kahn’s class wrote blog posts for “Marketplace” about an address on jobs given by President Barack Obama.

To learn more, visit annenberg.usc.edu/marketplace

wins Overseas Press Club scholarship Undergraduate

Public relations student Rachel Will has been named one of 14 nationwide winners of the 2012 Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholarship.

Will, who hopes to pursue a career as a foreign correspondent and report from Southeast Asia, accepted the $2,000 scholarship award in New York at an OPC Foundation luncheon.

Rachel Will accepts her scholarship.

“I’m truly honored to have received this award,” Will says.

“I’m very grateful to USC for all of the opportunities it has given me, including traveling to Hong Kong as a USC Global Fellow in the summer of 2010… and studying abroad last spring in London.”

Will is the deputy editor of U.S.-China Today, a student-driven publication of the USC U.S.-China Institute that covers the evolving political, economic and social dynamics of the Pacific Rim. To learn more, visit annenberg.usc.edu/prscholarship

There’s an app for that: Students build class-finding tool A website developed by students in an advanced social media class is being used as a guide for students to select digital-related classes.

Students in Communication 499: Advanced Social Media, led by undergraduate coder Liz Krane and adjunct instructor Kathi Inman Berens, spent a month developing an app called DigiToolSC that helps students select classes based on a range of criteria.

“The real test of social media is, ‘Does it solve a real-world problem?’”

Berens says. “Students know that there are lots of great digital classes at USC, but there was no one-stop shop. So we built the one-stop shop.”

The students built every element of the Web app, including source code, written content, Web design, graphic design, music editing, video production and promoting the app on social media.

“The main learning outcome is about collaboration and what happens when you’re crunching on a real-world deadline,” Berens says. “Our premise was that everybody would do a little bit of everything, but because we were trying to launch in time for registration, we had to blast it out. That meant they brought to the table skills they already possessed.”

Berens says the students are learning that digital tools come and go, but the critical thinking they are learning will stay with them.

“Technology doesn’t always do what you want it to do,” she says.

“But if you think hard enough, you can make it do what you need. And that’s a real skill in the workplace.”

That’s something that Krane and classmates Cynthia Momdjian, Sean Carpenter, William Ford-Conway, Matthew Gray, Keith Koo,

Students in Communication 499: Advanced Social Media designed, coded, developed and published the DigiToolSC app.

Nikki Yep and Misha Yim are learning first-hand. All students are seniors with the exception of Ford-Conway, who is a sophomore.

“I needed digital skills for my job starting from day one,” said Momdjian, who also works for a global entertainment corporation based in Los Angeles. “DigiToolSC provides students specific information about which tools are used in classes exclusively available at USC.” To learn more, visit annenberg.usc.edu/classapp

SOPA protest is the latest networked political movement

Doctoral student:

Doctoral student Alex Leavitt wrote an article for professor Henry Jenkins’ popular “Confessions of an Aca-Fan” blog that explained why Wikipedia, Reddit and other websites staged a blackout against the proposed federal Stop Online Piracy Act legislation—a protest that led to a sudden reversal of the proposal in Congress.

“In the past year, we’ve dealt with various novel political moments around the world that have been enabled … with networked technology,” Leavitt wrote, citing the Arab Alex Leavitt Spring protests and the Occupy movements “We’ve also seen another interesting case study taking place in American politics: rampant opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act, dubbed as ‘the most important bill in Congress you may have never heard of.’”

“On one side there is Hollywood and the music industry and on the other is Google,” wrote communication professor Jonathan Taplin in a separate blog post. “There has been an incredible amount of misinformation floating around about piracy for years and of course there are also some real bully boys who will threaten anyone who opposes their right to ‘free culture.’”

Jenkins, the Provost’s Professor of Communication, Journalism and Cinematic Arts, wrote in an introduction that Americans should be cautious about terms such as “piracy” when framing public policies. He also called out broadcast media for being afraid to address the topic on air.

To learn more, visit annenberg.usc.edu/sopa

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FACULT Y NEWS

In memoriam:

Norman Corwin, 1910–2011

Norman Lewis Corwin, one of USC Annenberg’s most beloved professors—and one of the country’s greatest radio dramatists— died October 18, 2011. He was 101.

Dean Ernest J. Wilson III called Corwin “a true legend,” saying, “He gave us the benefit of his knowledge, wit and keen observations through many decades, and he was a literary treasure.”

Corwin was a Bostonian who, at 17, started on a course that led him ultimately into almost all forms of media. After 10 years as a newspaperman, he moved into radio, serving as writerdirector-producer for CBS and creating such milestones in broadcasting as the four-network “We Hold These Truths.”

Corwin’s landmark radio drama “On a Note of Triumph,” an hourlong poetic meditation on World War II, was hailed

by Carl Sandburg as “a vast announcement, a terrific interrogatory, one of the all-time great American poems,” while Billboard declared it “the single greatest— and we use ‘greatest’ in its full meaning—radio program we ever heard.”

Geneva Overholser, director of USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism, called Corwin “a legend in our midst—a legend whose warm, funny, wise and flirtatious spirit transcended eminence and age.

“He had experienced so much, but his hunger to know and feel more never dulled. He was a phenomenon the likes of whom we won’t see again,” she said.

Corwin was the author of 12 published books and led two award committees for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Until the end of his life, Corwin was a Writer in Residence at USC Annenberg.

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Corwin came to USC in 1979 at the urging of Professor Joe Saltzman, who needed to add courses in radio to the broadcast journalism curriculum.

“When it came to radio, there was only one man in America I wanted to bring to USC and that was Norman Corwin,” Saltzman said. “He used language in a way so unique, so eloquent, so funny, so precise that it was just a pleasure to sit with him and listen to him talk about anything and everything, especially the people he knew from the famous to the infamous to the people he met on a daily basis.”

Bryce Nelson, a fellow journalism professor, called Corwin “a great person, a great artist with words, a great teaching colleague and a great friend.

“I think a student that Norman and I had said it best,” Nelson continued. “His name was Joshua Talley, and he said, ‘He made me believe in myself. Norman found a reason for every student to believe in himself and then provided criticism to make us even better.’”

To learn more about Norman Corwin’s legacy, visit annenberg.usc.edu/corwin

IN PRINT

From the faculty bookshelf...

Commodity Activism: Cultural Resistance in Neoliberal Times Co-edited by Sarah Banet-Weiser NYU Press When philanthropy and political action are tied with consumption and cause-related marketing, can buying a T-shirt actually qualify as activism? Communication professor Sarah Banet-Weiser and her co-author, Queens College professor Roopali Mukherjee, explore the evolving expression of social activism in modern consumer culture. The book is “about asking people to be critically aware of both political activism and the way in which it relates to commodity, and to not easily allow one to stand in for the other,” Banet-Weiser says.

Comunicación Móvil y Desarrollo Económico y Social en América Latina (Mobile Communication and Social and Economic Development in Latin America) By members of the Annenberg Research Network for International Communication Universidad de Alcalá de Henares Under lead author Manuel Castells, who holds the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Communication Technology & Society, this book explores the impact of mobile phone use on poverty and economic mobility in South America. According to the authors, the high rates of mobile phone penetration in Latin America provide valuable data on the economic benefits of mobile communication, along with many innovative applications of cellular technology toward communal and individual challenges. Among the book’s conclusions: The introduction of cell phones to a community contributes to the reduction of poverty in that population.

The Digital Glocalization of Entertainment: New Paradigms in the 21st Century Global Mediascape

By Paolo Sigismondi Springer Science + Business Media In this book, communication professor Paolo Sigismondi explores the dynamics of global media and entertainment against the backdrop of the rise of information and communication technology. As successful media texts cross national and cultural boundaries, how will existing power structures adapt to regional influences and reflect local tastes? Sigismondi also identifies Hollywood’s chief competitors in the evolving landscape—the leaders in nonscripted entertainment, for example, are European global entities operating outside of the Hollywood system.

Outlaw Blues: Adventures in the Counter-Culture Wars

By Jonathan Taplin USC Annenberg Press, available on iTunes Drawing on his experience as a tour manager for Bob Dylan and a producer for Martin Scorsese’s first film, communication professor and USC Annenberg Innovation Lab director Jonathan Taplin’s book educates a new generation about the cultural revolution of the 1960s and ’70s. Taplin and his colleagues at the Lab worked closely with Apple to make this eBook more than just a book on a tablet, using embedded videos and songs to bring the music and art of the era to life.

Stardust Monuments: The Saving and Selling of Hollywood

By Alison Trope Dartmouth College Press The influence of Hollywood extends far beyond the movie theater—through retail stores, theme parks and home entertainment, but also through museums, restaurants and the Internet. Yet while we each value the nostalgia of Hollywood in myriad ways, the same studios and corporations that built Hollywood’s past continue to shape how we experience this nostalgia—and profit from our experience of it. Communication professor Alison Trope’s latest book examines for the first time how the entertainment industry has portrayed itself, and how the tension between profit and preservation manifests itself across show business.

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facult y notes

School of Journalism associate director Laura

Senior Lecturer David Craig was the executive

tion and Innovation: Online Learning and Degrees

award by the Directors Guild of America in the Out-

Castañeda wrote a research article titled “Disrupat Accredited Journalism Schools and Programs.”

Castaneda’s study predicted that online journalism programs may produce new markets of nontradi-

tional journalists. The article was published in the

Winter 2011 edition of Journalism & Mass Communication Educator.

Hollywood, Health & Society director Sandra de Castro Buffington participated in the discussion

“Content Integration & Social Change: Spark-

ing Action Through Programming, Advertising & Popular Culture” at the 139th Annual American

Public Health Association Meeting and Exposition in Washington, D.C. Buffington spoke about the

Hollywood, Health & Society project’s mission to

help audiences gain critical health information from popular entertainment.

School of Journalism associate director Bill Celis

spoke at the Hungarian Consulate during a program commemorating the 100th anniversary of Joseph

Pulitzer’s death. Celis discussed Pulitzer’s contributions to diversity coverage through the New York

World, saying that the secret to its success was the

producer of “Girl Fight,” which was nominated for an standing Movies for Television and Miniseries cat-

egory. The film tells the story of a teenage girl whose

friends upload a video of them physically abusing her

on the Internet. Broadcast on Lifetime, “Girl Fight” is Craig’s third project to be recognized by the guild.

Henry Jenkins, Provost’s Professor of Communication, Journalism and Cinematic Arts, led a team to

develop a new curriculum designed to help teenagers

navigate online life in an ethical, respectful way. Our Space: Being a Responsible Citizen of the Digital World was produced in collaboration with researchers at Harvard and MIT.

Journalism professor Gabriel Kahn interviewed L.A. City Councilwoman and USC alumna Jan Perry for Los Angeles Magazine. The story, titled “That Other

Election,” discusses Perry’s mayoral campaign, proposals for an NFL stadium in downtown L.A., and improvements to the Los Angeles Unified School

District. Kahn interviewed mayoral candidate Austin Buetner for the magazine in May 2011.

paper’s attention to underserved communities. By

Norman Lear Center director Marty Kaplan spoke

Celis said, Pulitzer gave these groups

sociation on the theme “Historians, Journalists and

covering the working class, women and immigrants,

at the annual meeting of the American History As-

“a friend in The World.”

the Challenges of Getting It Right.” Kaplan engaged

Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, a play written by University Professor Geoffrey Cowan and the late Leroy Aarons, toured China for two

weeks, sparking controversy with its emphasis on

in a discussion about whether journalists are prone to simplify history by necessity of the profession, or if

there is a place in journalism for nuanced explanations of historical occurrences.

the power of a free press. The play was performed

Communication and journalism professor Josh Kun

but the producers were forced to cancel two post-

ervation to produce an anthology titled “Songs for the

Chinese hosts.

1950-1973.” Kun also assisted in creating an iPhone

as scheduled in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing,

partnered with the Idelsohn Society for Musical Pres-

performance discussions due to objections from their

Jewish-American Jet Set: The Tikva Records Story, application that allows users to learn about Tikva Records and its artists.

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Communication professor Peter Monge and Rut-

gers University professor Matthew S. Weber (Ph.D. Communication ’10) wrote a research article titled

“The Flow of Digital News in a Network of Sources,

Castells honored with prestigious Holberg International Memorial Prize University Professor Manuel Castells,

Authorities and Hubs” in the December 2011 issue

who holds the Wallis Annenberg Chair

of Journal of Communication. The article analyzed

in Communication Technology and

the patterns of information movement of online

Society, has been awarded Norway’s

news sites. Monge and Weber also wrote about the

2012 Holberg International Memorial

contribution of social network theory and hyperlinked

Prize, a $775,000 accolade that recog-

networks of Web pages to information flow on

nizes outstanding scholarly work in

the Internet.

arts and humanities, social science, law and theology.

Castells is the most cited communica-

School of Journalism director Geneva Overholser

tion scholar in the world, and was rec-

was invited to give the 44th Hays Press-Enterprise

ognized by the Holberg Prize Academic

Lecture at UC Riverside—an honor she first received

Committee as “the leading sociologist

20 years ago. Overholser discussed the economic

of the city and new information and media technologies.”

journalism in the last two decades. She is the first

cal dynamics of urban and global economies in the network society. He

and structural changes that have occurred within

person to be invited to give the Hays Press-Enterprise Lecture twice.

“His ideas and writings have shaped our understanding of the politihas illuminated the underlying power structures of the great technological revolutions of our time and their consequences,” the prize committee said of Castells.

Center on Public Diplomacy director Philip Seib wrote an article titled “Public Diplomacy Versus

Asked about the award’s significance, Castells said, “The esteem of my colleagues and my students is for me the most important reward for

Terrorism,” which was featured in the January edition

all the work I put in my teaching and research.”

discusses the media’s role within geopolitical interests

2003. Previous prizewinners include legal scholar Ronald Dworkin and

of Media and Terrorism: Global Perspectives. The book and global inequality.

The Holberg Prize was established by the Norwegian parliament in philosopher Jürgen Habermas. Castells will receive his honor in Bergen, Norway, on June 6.

Journalism professor Diane Winston, holder of the Knight Chair in Media and Religion, traveled to

Southern Methodist University in Dallas to deliver

the annual Public Life/Personal Faith Lecture at the

Dean Ernest J. Wilson III wrote an article for the

Winston delivered a talk titled “Soup, Soap and

about regional “innovation clusters” needing to draw

Perkins School of Theology. At a luncheon event, Salvation: William Booth’s Legacy for the 21st Century,” discussing the ongoing work of the

Salvation Army. The previous afternoon, she spoke at an academic symposium on “Saving Grace:

Ritual, Re-enchantment and Redemption in a Mediatized World.”

Spring 2012 issue of strategy+business magazine

on the power of an interrelated “quad” of sectors— public, private, civil and academic—to foster eco-

nomic growth. “For the last 15 years, I have studied

innovation clusters in more than a dozen countries,” Dean Wilson wrote. “Clusters can be vitally important to a country’s innovation and prosperity, but

when they are misunderstood, they do not realize their potential.”

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cover feature

COMMUNICATI

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ION by DESIGN

By Scott Fields Renderings by ZAR

With the addition of a new facility, USC Annenberg is turning the fundamentals of human interaction into a physical reality.

A whole new way to communicate is under development at USC Annenberg, in the form of an 88,000-squarefoot, five-story building in the heart of campus with a design that connects people, fosters creativity and accelerates the school’s path into the future.

“As media and communication shift more and more to the center of modern life, we have continuously worked to place ourselves at the center of that shift,” says Dean Ernest J. Wilson III. “This new facility will help us realize our ambition: Just as communication is at the center of modern life, USC Annenberg is at the center of communication and journalism—and at the center of campus!”

“We took Dean Wilson’s directive to heart,” says lead architect Dan Benjamin of the firm Harley Ellis Devereaux. “He wanted the building to be designed with space that connects rather than contains.”

The new facility’s learning spaces will include a blend of unique “huddle” spaces, movable walls, learning and research labs, and other features to foster future-oriented conversations and blue-sky thinking.

Flexible furniture and meeting areas, drop-in space for visitors, and state-of-the-art production studios will create environments to turn these plans into action.

“In the spirit of the culture of innovation and experimentation, we’ll have spaces that are more conducive to random interactions and cross-fertilization, rather than having things separating off,” says Vice Dean Larry Gross, director of the School of Communication and one of the key members of the project team. “We’ve been trying for a village square kind of environment.”

The core of the vision was prompted by Wallis Annenberg, whose long-standing commitment to

openness, transparency and technology defined the spirit of the design. Equipped with today’s most revolutionary technology, the new facility also will help the school adapt to a pace of technological innovation that seems to have permanently shifted into overdrive.

Relief for a crowded learning environment The current home of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, designed by noted architect A. Quincy Jones and built for $3 million in the 1970s, was intended to accommodate only 100 graduate students. With a focus on collaboration and open discussion, the school grew organically, establishing new areas of scholarly inquiry and developing a unique combination of educational opportunities.

Along the way, the student population grew to 2,200 graduate and undergraduate students pursuing degrees in world-renowned communication, journalism, public relations and public diplomacy programs.

Renovations to the existing building have attempted to keep up with the pace of change, but can no longer do so.

“The original building was built before the personal computer was invented, and certainly before the integration of information technologies into everything we do,” explains Gross. “The fields of communication and journalism are at the high end of engagement with technology, so this changes things.

“At the simplest level, we’re out of space,” Gross continues. “We don’t have room for the faculty, for the research projects, for the activities. … We’re bursting at the seams. We have to expand, and we’ve taken this opportunity to build from the ground up.”

spring 2012 11

cover feature

Converging factors of design

All-in-one media center

In preparing for the expansion, USC Annenberg turned to DEGW, an international planning and programming company that has helped innovative firms such as Google and Nokia determine how to create dynamic new space. DEGW held a series of workshops and interviews with USC Annenberg faculty, staff and students to assess what was—and was not—working in the existing building. They found that despite the school’s focus

Directly adjacent to the Forum, the architects have placed a cutting-edge, collaborative multimedia newsroom, bringing USC Annenberg’s print, broadcast and online student news outlets into one common space for the first time. It will be centered around a converged assignment desk where editors will monitor multiple sources to produce the day’s news. A state-of-the-art broadcast studio, professional-quality control room, and suites of

“ There will be research neighborhoods, and a very innovative multimedia lab for students to study and do all kinds of projects. In many ways, the ingredients will be similar to the current building, but they’ll have a more fluid and flexible design.” —Larry Gross

on collaboration and community involvement, portions of the current facility actually stifle interaction.

DEGW translated their findings into a set of guiding themes: Innovation, Versatility, Collaboration and Transparency. With this direction, the architects at HED took over, designing the new building’s centerpiece as a ground-level public forum—a meeting place and common area modeled on the ancient Greek assembly places known as “agora.” For inspiration, the project team visited a variety of similar spaces around the country, including MIT’s Media Lab, Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, the Kennedy Forum at Harvard University and studios at Bloomberg News and Politico.

“The atrium connects all floors of the building, and then we have some walls within the atrium that are emphasized to make a connection between floors,” Benjamin says. “Vertical and horizontal surfaces connect in a way where visitors will be asking, ‘Is that part of the wall or part of the ceiling?’ We’re really responding to the idea that spaces connect.”

THE FORUM (page 13, top right)—Designed to model the ‘agora’ of ancient Greece as a ground-level public meeting place and common area, this centerpiece of the new building has a vertical village square environment with space conducive to random interactions and crossfertilization. Elevators, open stairs and bridges connect all the floors, the architectural verticality mirroring the Collegiate Gothic style of the facility’s exterior. A café located near the Forum also will encourage interaction between students and faculty members.

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editing bays and flexible production spaces round out the media center.

“What we’re realizing as time moves on is everybody—not just the journalism students, but our PR, communication and public diplomacy students too—is using more and more technology and multiple platforms, and more and more social networks, in their academic work and in their professional work,” says Geneva Overholser, director of the School of Journalism.

“It’s very visible from Childs Way,” she continues about the news lab windows, which will look out onto the sidewalk of a primary campus thoroughfare, next door to the University Bookstore. “So it’s going to have the same feel as some of the TV studios in New York City. People walking to the student center will be able to see into the assignment desk, with all of our media labs together for the first time—it’s really going to be exciting.”

The DIGITAL LAB (page 13, lower left)—On the third floor, the Digital Lab features a variety of workspaces for individuals and groups of varying sizes. Some of these spaces will be within pavilions separated from one another by translucent glass walls that will be used as surfaces on which to project images, or as writeable white boards.

THE media center (page 14)—Modeled on a network newsroom, this collaborative multimedia space brings USC Annenberg’s print, broadcast and online student news outlets into one common area for the first time. Large windows facing the Forum will enable a direct sightline to the assignment desk for visitors coming through the building’s front entrance, and windows on the newsroom’s other side will allow pedestrians on Childs Way to view the constant activity.

spring 2012 13

cover feature

student union ay le Parkw Trousda

campus center bookstore wallis annenberg hall

way watt

ay sw

14 usc annenberg agenda

child

existing annenberg bldg

A 21st-century media school Beyond the first floor, Benjamin and his team devised a careful layering of intimate and public spaces that stimulate blending of people and ideas.

“There are open spaces that are always in concert with the more individualized spaces,” Benjamin says. “For example, you may be entering an office through an open work area, or entering the classrooms through the atrium.”

Mobile furniture pieces and rooms with movable boundaries also will create new pathways to inspire fresh thinking.

Taking a cue from the physical, the school’s virtual infrastructure will be equally open and flexible. A state-of-the-art media storage and distribution network will allow students to collaborate in new ways, blend interactive media and instantly share their stories with the world.

“ What we’re realizing as time moves on is

everybody—not just the journalism students but all of our students—is using more and more technology and social networks in their academic work, and in their field work.”

—Geneva Overholser

By The Numbers Total square feet:

88,000

Floors: Five Exterior Style: Collegiate Price:

$61 million

raised to date: classrooms:

$50 million

16

Auditorium capacity: A move toward gothic Given that the facility will be constructed on prime real estate at a key campus intersection, Benjamin and his colleagues have been working to maintain the traditional “vocabulary” of the campus, blending elements of Romanesque and neo-Gothic architecture to create a new signature look for the campus.

As for melding this structure with its much more contemporary contents, “We are trying to emphasize the verticality of the main interior space—the Forum—because Gothic buildings emphasize verticality,” says Benjamin. “Gothic started out as religious architecture, with the intention of raising your eyes to the sky.”

Apart from the building’s ability to encourage attention upward, the architectural interplay between the exterior’s evocation of the past and the interior’s focus on the future is especially appropriate for the study of communication and journalism, Dean Wilson says. “We hear from many sources—our peers, our external partners, our broader community—that it’s important to preserve the traditional values of integrity, ethics, responsible journalism and scholarly analysis while we stretch our work in innovative, interdisciplinary, unpredictable ways,” he says. “This building serves as a physical embodiment of those dual imperatives.”

Groundbreaking scheduled With construction for the new facility scheduled to start in July—and with opening planned for spring 2014—USC Annenberg is clearly investing in an educational environment with a focus on the future. Opportunities for all of the USC Annenberg community to raise funds for that investment will be announced in the months ahead. Once the building opens its doors, learning, exploration and interaction will occur throughout its two complementary buildings, propelling USC Annenberg to new heights.

Gothic

160

Special features:

 A four-story atrium with skylight and multi-floor media display tower  1 broadcast-quality video studio  1 broadcast-quality radio studio  1 vodcast-quality direct-to-web studio  1 student computer lab with laptop lounge  1 experiential learning and research environment  2 research neighborhoods  2 faculty office neighborhoods  11 drop-in student collaboration areas  1 quick-service café

spring 2012

15

research news

Report examines Internet’s role in human trafficking The rapid expansion of the Internet is being used to facilitate human trafficking, but it also can be harnessed to monitor and combat this form of modern-day slavery, according to a new report from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) at USC Annenberg.

The result of a yearlong investigation by CCLP research director Mark Latonero and his team, Human Trafficking Online: The Role of Social Networking Sites and Online Classifieds focuses on how technology and online tools can be used to prevent trafficking, protect victims and prosecute perpetrators.

“Data mining, mapping and advanced analytics can be developed to support law enforcement and other organizations in fighting human trafficking,” says Latonero.

“The report also describes how mobile phone applications, crowdsourcing and other new technologies might be used to help victims.”

Just as the Internet has given traffickers easier means of exploiting their victims, it also has created new ways to catch them, the report says. Online communications leave behind traces in cyberspace, which provide glimpses into criminal techniques and patterns. With enough information assembled, investigators can take action against traffickers, the authors argue.

“Researchers cannot afford to ignore the dark side of the Internet,” says William H. Dutton, director of the Oxford Internet Institute. “This report provides valuable guidelines for policymakers and practitioners … of how to go after the traffickers.”

Human Trafficking Online calls for immediate action to develop monitoring and prevention techniques and Mark Latonero makes recommendations for industry, law enforcement, researchers and NGOs to combat trafficking. The report also offers a blueprint to inform future technological interventions in support of anti-trafficking efforts.

To learn more, visit annenberg.usc.edu/trafficking

Executive-in-residence calls for a more transparent newsroom culture Journalism must transition to an approach that embraces two-way, digital communication if the industry hopes to improve relationships and communication with consumers, executive-in-residence Melanie Sill argues in a new discussion paper.

The paper, “The Case for Open Journalism Now: A New Framework for Informing Communities,” urges a true change in news organization cultures and pushes a new way of thinking about journalism as a service—not just a product.

Melanie Sill The key, Sill writes, is community engagement as a genuine part of newsgathering.

A shift toward transparent and responsive journalism could help journalists define their new roles in the digital era, when information is flowing everywhere, Sill says.

“I think one of the hardest things for journalists to understand is that the gatekeeper role is not our main job anymore,” Sill says.

“People know that, and they say, ‘If that’s not our job, what is our job?’ and that’s the question I’m most interested in.”

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Over her six-month residency at USC Annenberg, Sill researched the paper by conducting dozens of interviews and reviewing books, articles, blog posts and journalism by mainstream and alternative media.

“Amid a breaking news story, the journalism for a newspaper site might be having a knowledgeable reporter doing a live chat to answer questions, and gathering and curating real-time information rather than writing or producing a ‘story’ for later publication,” Sill writes. “Newsgathering might send reporters to community gathering places, including Facebook groups or forums, to put out word about questions they’re pursuing.”

Sill hopes that effective open journalism will break down communication barriers between news organization and communities.

Transparent journalism connected to a community could increase trust while providing the information news organizations need for their survival.

Since the paper was published, Sill has been appointed executive editor of KPCC-FM’s Southern California Public Radio, where she hopes to “draw on open journalism ideas to expand on the station’s efforts to broaden and deepen its community connections,” she says.

To learn more, visit annenberg.usc.edu/sillreport

Innovation Lab tracks fan opinions with “Oscar Senti-meter” With hundreds of millions of posts flying around the Internet every day, how can you make sense of the Twitter-sphere?

Working with IBM and the Los Angeles Times, researchers at the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab and USC Viterbi’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab mined millions of Twitter posts in the run-up to the Academy Awards. The tweets then were run through language-recognition technology to identify if the message mentioned a movie or actor, and to gauge the opinion the user had on the subject—positive or negative. The system turned posts like “I hate meryl streep and her false humility” and “Michelle Williams wins for acceptance speech for my week with marilyn!” into usable data about public opinion.

The result: An online app, hosted by the Times, that not only shows Who’s Hot and Who’s Not, but also tracks the dynamics of public perception over time. The snapshots below show how Streep’s and Williams’ online reputations changed in response to the Golden Globes.

The technology goes beyond Hollywood—IBM and the Lab previously used the technology to analyze opinions during the 2011 World Series and the Arab Spring unrest that has swept the Middle East.

The Oscar Senti-Meter is available at latimes.com/sentimeter.

Image by Thomas Suh Lauder, courtesy of the Los Angeles Times

spring 2012

17

Alumni profile

Giving As Good As T

Three USC Annenberg alumni have learned that their involvement with on-campus life

By Jeremy Rosenberg Every time a staff member at USC Annenberg asks Jae S. Kim (B.A. Communication ’97) to help a student, the affable and humble Hollywood executive answers in the affirmative.

“I always say yes,” says Kim, who is now the senior director of original programming at BET Networks.

That means, Kim says, that during the past five years he has personally interfaced with more than 20 USC Annenberg students.

Sometimes that translates into sitting down for a one-on-one informational interview; other times, Kim will forward a student’s résumé to a colleague; and more often than not, the Trojan provides a particularly invaluable sort of entrée into an industry that to outsiders can at first appear impenetrable.

“What I want to do is help bridge students from academia to the professional world,” Kim says. “I can make that impact as quickly as possible through internships.”

Kim, who is also a charter member of the newly relaunched USC Annenberg Alumni Board of Directors, is just one of a large and rapidly growing corps of graduates who are giving back to their school in a host of ways.

That includes—but is by no means limited to—providing financial support for student scholarships, seeking out and hiring student interns, recruiting USC Annenberg alumni for full-time positions, guest lecturing in classrooms or at special events, serving on boards and committees, and participating in USC Annenberg Connections, the mentoring program that this academic year matched 88 alums with current undergraduate and graduate students.

Thomas Haire (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’94) has been one of those mentors in 12 of the past 13 years. (He offered the other year, as well.) Why does the Response Magazine editor-in-chief so consistently share his time and expertise? In part because of what the former financial aid recipient once received. “[USC Annenberg] really invested in me, they gave me a chance,” Haire says. “It’s important to me on a regular basis to give back as much as I can because I wouldn’t be where I am without the school.”

Haire, like other USC Annenberg mentors, meets monthly with his mentored student. “We’ll sit down for an hour and I’ll listen to them and answer any questions they have,” Haire says. He also regularly exchanges emails with students and plans to chat on Skype

18 usc annenberg agenda

Jae Kim (B.A. Communication ’97), Thomas Haire (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’94) and on the tradition of alumni involvement at USC Annenberg.

with a current mentee heading abroad. Haire also invites students annually to Orange County to tour his magazine’s offices, where he introduces them to colleagues such as the publisher and the graphics director.

Haire says one of his recent mentees took a job in San Francisco doing public relations work with Hill + Knowlton. The student wound up successfully pitching a client’s story to Haire’s publication. “I got a really nice note from one of my freelance writers,” Haire says, “about how great she was to work with.”

Gena Yuvette Davis (B.A. Communication Arts & Sciences ’91) is likewise proud of her mentees. Davis worked as a marketing executive in the entertainment industry prior to opening True Synergy, where she serves as a certified professional coach and brand marketing consultant. “I give back because someone gave back to me,” Davis says. “When I was a student, I had a mentor for three years. She really cared and she guided me along.”

Davis returned the favor by maintaining a three-year mentorship of her own. Davis says when this mentee, an international student, graduated and decided to return to her home country, she gave Davis an open invitation to come visit. “I nearly burst into tears when she said that,” Davis says.

Alumni notes

hey Got

doesn’t have to end at graduation.

Mildred Farnsworth (B.A. The Arts ’46) received the Distinguished Service Award and the Trojan Debate Squad Lifetime Achievement Award at the Half Century Trojan Award Luncheon in October. She is a past president of Half Century Trojans and was the first female captain of the Trojan Debate Squad while she was a student at USC. Michael Furtney (B.A. Public Relations ’60) is a principal with the Killeen Furtney Group. He has worked with Union Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Rail and Sprint, among others.

Paul Morantz (B.A. Journalism ’68) is a Los Angeles-based lawyer who has specialized in cult and brainwashing cases for over 30 years. He recently authored a book with Hal Lancaster (B.A. Journalism ’69) titled Escape: My Lifelong War on Cults.

Gena Yuvette Davis (B.A. Communication Arts & Sciences ’91) carry

Davis has been a USC Annenberg mentor for nine years, but mentoring isn’t the only way she contributes to USC Annenberg and USC’s ongoing success. Davis also speaks at the school’s Careers in Entertainment Day, serves on an ad hoc USC Annenberg committee focusing on career development and is a member of the USC Black Alumni Association’s Legacy Through Leadership committee.

“It’s just a joy to be able to see someone’s life change and that you were there to help guide them,” Davis says. “If more people would take the time to mentor, to give back and to volunteer their time, they’d see that it’s just so much richer than anything else that you can do.”

To find out more about how to customize what you give back to USC Annenberg, contact Amy-Jo Luna, director of alumni relations, at ajluna@usc.edu. Visit annenbergalumni.com/volunteer

Roger Smith (B.A. Journalism ’71) has been appointed national editor at the Los Angeles Times. He previously served as senior project editor of the paper and was in charge of Column One stories from Metro, Business, Calendar and Sports for the last seven years.

Diana Turner (B.A. Journalism ’73) has been chosen as recruitment co-chair for the Association of Trojan Leagues’ Executive Board. She also serves on the boards of the Trojan League of South Bay and the USC-Kappa Kappa Gamma house.

Turner is a Realtor at South Bay Brokers in Manhattan Beach.

Jay Berman (B.A. Journalism ’61, M.A. Journalism ’74) has been honored with a scholarship in his name by the College of Communications at Cal State Fullerton. The Jay Berman Daily Titan Scholarship will be given annually to a journalism major who works at The Daily Titan, the CSUF student newspaper. Berman was faculty adviser to The Daily Titan from 1981 through 1992.

Lisa Myers Goldman (B.A. Communication ’78) was awarded the USC Alumni Association’s Widney House Award for her work as an ambassador for USC. Goldman currently serves on the USC Dornsife Board of Councilors and is a USC Chairman Level Associate.

James Burns (M.A. Journalism ’80) was named the first adviser of The Occidental Weekly, the 118-year-old publication of Occidental College.

He also serves as director of the journalism program at Antelope Valley College.

Gail L. Thompson (B.A. Journalism ’80) has published two books, A Brighter Day: How Parents Can Help African American Youth and The Power of One: How You Can Help or Harm African American Students. Thompson is a Wachovia Endowed Chair Distinguished Professor of Education at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina.

Kathleen S. Ives-Matzner (M.A. Communication Management ’81) is the chief operating officer of the Sloan Consortium—an association of individuals, institutions and organizations of higher education engaged in online learning.

Terrence Lindvall (Ph.D. Communication Arts & Sciences ’81) published a book, Celluloid Sermons: The Emergence of the Christian Film Industry, which is a sequel to Sanctuary Cinema: The Origins of the Christian Film Industry, through NYU Press. Lindvall is C.S. Lewis Professor of Communication and Christian Thought at Virginia Wesleyan College.

Eric Bailey (M.A. Journalism ’82) is the communications director of Consumer Attorneys of California, after 26 years at the Los Angeles Times.

Ria Carlson (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’83) is the associate vice chancellor for strategic communications at UC Irvine. Previously, she worked at Ingram Micro Inc., the world’s largest technology distributor and Orange County’s largest corporation. Carlson represents USC Annenberg on the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors.

Katy Garretson (B.A. Communication Arts & Sciences/Print Journalism ’85) was awarded the Frank Capra Lifetime Achievement Award by the Directors Guild of America and was named executive director of the I Have a Dream Foundation.

She serves on the USC Annenberg Alumni Board of Directors.

John Griffiths (B.A. Public Relations ’85) is a television critic for US Weekly and is founder and president of the Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association. spring 2012

19

Alumni Notes Priss Benbow (M.A. Communication Management ’87) had case studies of two clients profiled in Marketing Public Relations, a college marketing textbook published by Prentice Hall.

Tom Mazza (M.A. Communication Management ’87) is the co-head of the U.S. division of Shaftesbury, one of Canada’s leading creators and producers of original programming for television and multiple platforms.

Previously, he was executive VP of worldwide television at Cookie Jar Entertainment.

Gordon Tokumatsu (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’88) is a reporter for NBC4 in Los Angeles.

Kelly Moore (B.A. Sports Information ’89) is the author of Secrets of An Accidental Yogi: Yoga Wisdom for Better Health, Less Stress & Great Sex. Christy Salcido (B.A. Public Relations ’92) launched a strategic planning and writing resource company, Write On Communications, providing creative solutions for products, brands and services across multiple industries.

Jamie Brewer Kinsley (M.A. Communication Management ’95) is a senior vice president and process design manager at Bank of America.

Ryh-Ming Poon (B.A. Public Relations ’95) is the vice president of public relations at GameFly Inc., an online video game rental company. Poon previously worked for 12 years as a PR director at Activision, handling such games as Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk and the Marvel and Spider-Man titles.

Jason Clark (M.A. Communication Management ’98) is senior vice president for publicity and corporate communication at Fox Broadcasting Company.

Alex Castro (M.A. Broadcast Journalism ’00) is a producer for the television show “The Doctors.” Prior to this, he was an associate producer for “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

Anthony Galloway (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’00) is the supervising producer for NBC Primetime News. In this position, Galloway oversees digital media content, production and distribution for the newsmagazine “Rock Center With Brian Williams,” in addition to “Dateline NBC.” 20 usc annenberg agenda

Sarah Huoh (B.A. Public Relations ’00) is director of global communications at Edwards Lifesciences, a global leader in the science of heart valves.

Steven Grossman (M.A. Communication Management ’02) was featured on the cover of Variety as one of “Hollywood’s New Leaders.” Grossman is manager of nonscripted TV and branded lifestyle entertainment at The Collective, a talent management agency.

Jessica Fini (M.A. Communication Management ’03) is the assistant manager for Honda public relations.

Justin Chang (B.A. Print Journalism ’04) published a book in the FilmCraft series, Editing. Chang is a senior film critic with Variety.

Jack Qiu (Ph.D. Communication ’04) is a faculty member at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Peter Sanders (M.A. Print Journalism ’04) is the press secretary for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Previously, he was an aerospace writer for The Wall Street Journal.

Shayne Thomas (B.A. Communication ’04) is the senior manager of storytelling and the director of Y! Pride at Yahoo!.

Brad Chase (M.A. Strategic Public Relations ’05) had a business/political commentary piece posted on the front page of The Huffington Post. Chase is a partner at Capitol Media Partners, an independent communications and public affairs consultancy. He was recently named one of the “15 PR people to watch out for” by PR News.

Nick Valencia (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’05) is a journalist working for CNN. He is also the president of the Atlanta chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

Eric Berkowitz (M.A. Print Journalism ’06) published the book Sex and Punishment: Four Thousand Years of Judging Desire, through the Counterpoint imprint of Perseus Books.

The Tiziano Project, a multimedia website and outreach effort led by four USC Annenberg alumni, won an Online Journalism Award in the Community Collaboration category at the annual conference of the Online News Association in Boston. Jon Vidar (M.A. Communication Management ’06), the director of the project, was recently appointed as an adjunct professor for two photojournalism classes at USC Annenberg.

Three other USC Annenberg alumni are affiliated with the Tiziano Project: David Torstenson (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’03), Jessica Yurasek (M.C.M. Communication Management ’10) and Chris Mendez (M.C.M. Communication Management ’11).

Kevin Bartel (B.A. Communication ’07) is director of development and current programming at Studio Lambert USA. Previously, he worked at Creative Artists Agency.

Arul Chib (Ph.D. Communication ’07) won the ProSPER.NetScopus Young Scientist Award in Sustainable Development for 2011.

The award is given annually to young scientists or researchers based in the AsiaPacific region who have made significant contributions in the area of sustainable development.

Chib is an assistant professor at the Nanyang Technological University and the assistant director of the Singapore Internet Research Center.

Alison Greenberg (B.A. Communication ’07) won an Oscar as a co-producer on the documentary short film “Saving Face.” Greenberg currently works as the manager of donor and foundation relations for the Denver Film Society.

“Saving Face” is her first producer credit.

Amanda Maynard (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’07) is the sports director for KIVI-TV in Boise, Idaho. She was the first female sports director in both Boise and Bozeman, Mont.

Breanna M. Cardwell (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’08) is a communications associate for the California Wellness Foundation.

Kristin Daraban (M.A. Communication Management ’08) is an interactive and social media marketing associate for Nestlé and Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream. She is responsible for all digital initiatives for Nestlé Ice Cream, Drumstick, Frosty Paws and Haagen-Dazs brands.

Jonathan Horowitz (B.A. Print & Digital Journalism ’08) published a set of sports trivia cards, “The One and Only: A Sports Quiz Deck of Definitive Games, Teams, Players and Events.”

Jessica Janner (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’08) is a reporter for KTVN-TV in Las Vegas.

Kristin Kwan (B.A. Communication ’08) is a senior account executive at the market research firm Hall and Partners.

Cassandra Rowe (M.A. Communication Management ’08) is a senior manager of consumer insights at Netflix.

Penny Sang (M.A. Communication Management ’08) is a financial correspondent for China Business Network TV in Shanghai.

Previously, she worked as a new-media strategist at the China Press-U.S. Station.

Janna Brancolini (B.A. Print Journalism ’09) published a threepart investigative series about domestic sex trafficking of minors in Oakland and Alameda County, Calif. CBS San Francisco ran the series in its entirety. Brancolini is now a law student at Loyola Law School Los Angeles.

Nonny de la Peña (M.A. Communication Management ’09) had her latest piece of virtual-reality journalism, titled “Hunger in Los Angeles,” on display at the Sundance Film Festival and featured by the Huffington Post. De la Peña worked on the immersive journalism project as a senior research fellow at USC Annenberg.

Nicole Deruiter (M.A. Communication Management ’09) is the social media director at Fresh and Easy.

Joshua Sharp (B.A. Communication ’09) was hired as a producer, editor and graphics designer for the Republican National Committee in Washington, D.C.

Dana Buckley (M.A. Specialized Journalism ’10) is the head of film at Emerald City Arts, a progressive production company that creates traditional and digital media and art to address global issues. She also works as a media marketing assistant for Universal Pictures.

Gregory Cherry (M.C.M. Communication Management ’10) accepted a position at USC as the director of development at the Price School of Public Policy.

Matthew Erikson (M.A. Specialized Journalism ’10) is the public relations manager for the Arizona Opera.

Haley Greenwald-Gonella (M.A. Specialized Journalism ’10) is the social media manager at Lush Life Productions.

Alexis Haftvani (M.P.D. Public Diplomacy ’10) will spend the next two years in India working with the U.S. Consulate General in Chennai.

Marissa Lyman (B.A. Print Journalism ’10) is an account executive for Goodman Media International.

Meghan McCarty (M.A. Broadcast Journalism ’10) is an associate producer for “The Madeline Brand Show” on Southern California Public Radio.

Ashley O’Donnell (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’10) has joined Mainstreet Media as an inside account manager.

Claire Spera (M.A. Specialized Journalism ’10) recently began working at Wyatt Brand, an arts and public relations firm.

Taleen Ananian (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’11) is the assistant director for communications in the Office of Development and External Relations at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C.

Kevin Grant (M.A. Online Journalism ’11) has been named deputy editor of special reports at Global Post. Among other duties, Grant will be the point person on a Ford Foundation grant for reporting on human rights, emerging democracies and transparency in international aid.

Olga Khazan (M.A. Online Journalism ’11) covers retail manufacturing for the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Andrew Khouri (M.A. Print Journalism ’11) is a reporter for the San Fernando Business Journal.

Steffi Lau (B.A. Public Relations ’11) is an assistant account executive at Hill & Knowlton in San Francisco.

Kim Nowacki (M.A. Online Journalism ’11) is an online producer at New York Public Radio working to reimagine the classical music station’s digital content and presentation.

Jonathan Polakoff (M.A. Print Journalism ’11) is a media reporter for the Los Angeles Business Journal covering the media and entertainment industries.

Raphael Rosen (M.A. Specialized Journalism ’11) will intern at Sky & Telescope magazine in Cambridge, Mass., before beginning a yearlong assignment with the editorial team at the Argonne National Laboratory outside of Chicago.

Jared Sandler (B.A. Communication ’11) joined ESPN WLUN-FM in Pinconning, Mich., as program director and primary host of the radio station’s SportsNight show.

Matt Schrader (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’11) is an investigative reporter for KOVR-TV, the CBS affiliate in Sacramento.

Callie Schweitzer (B.A. Print and Digital Journalism ’11) is deputy publisher of the political news site Talking Points Memo.

Read more alumni news and send us an alumni note at annenbergalumni.com

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Join us November 8 as we break ground and build USC Annenberg’s future.

Look for more exciting updates in the months ahead!