CCLP, Harvard IOP and Bloomberg panel discuss the controversy over Super PACs and campaign financing at the RNC

On Sunday, August 26, 2012, the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy presented a panel alongside Bloomberg and the Harvard Institute of Politics at the Bloomberg Link in Tampa, Florida on the eve of the postponed Republican National Convention. While the convention was officially postponed until Tuesday, August 28, 2012, due to the looming threat of Hurricane Isaac, the pre-convention event successfully went off without postponement creating engaging conversations about the role of media in political discourse among leading news media professionals, political pundits, and leading academics…….

Health Care: We’re All in This Together

CCLP Senior Fellow Richard Reeves weighs in on the pressing health care debacle in his latest installment for truthdig. What are your thought's on Obamacare? Read more here. Tweet !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");……

The Money Melodrama in Washington

Stating the obvious: Politicians know politics; that's their business. Business is not their business, and any discussion about American presidents and economics has to begin with this discouraging word: American politicians, with a very small number of exceptions, don't know anything about economics. In Washington, during the deficit debates for the past few weeks, politicians are guessing–as I think most economists and pundits are–and they seize on almost any deficit idea that sounds good at the time. It has been ever thus: A mainstream American conservative, Richard Nixon, blurts out that we are all Keynesians now, and a mainstream American……

Research Director Latonero discusses trends in social media during visit to Saudi Arabia

"Social media are growing in popularity throughout the world, but at this historic moment, nowhere is its presence more groundbreaking than in the Middle East," said CCLP's Director of Research & Instruction Mark Latonero. In May, Latonero joined a team of scholars from the US and Middle East in Saudi Arabia as a part of an educational visit to share information on the American higher education system and also to learn more about the use of communication technology in the region. Latonero visited a class on social media during his trip, and noted that "communication majors were learning about……

The Cowardice of America at War

Photo credit storqmplusI had to pull over to the side of La Cienega Boulevard last Tuesday evening as I drove home from work. I was crying. It was nothing, or it was the same old thing. I was listening to the news on National Public Radio when there was another story about another death in Afghanistan. Pfc. Andrew Meari, age 21. A village called Senjaray. An Afghan on a moped pulled up next to an American truck and blew himself up, killing Meari and another guy. The Americans, my countrymen, were there, near Kandahar, working to win the trust and……

Seib in Huff Po – CENTCOM

"Whether these engagements," says Faculty Fellow Phil Seib "are changing anyone's outlook about the United States is open to question, but this work must be done." Seib is referring to CENTCOM, or the United States Central Command. The goal of this government organization is that it "promotes cooperation among nations, responds to crises, and deters or defeats state and non-state aggression, and supports development and, when necessary, reconstruction in order to establish the conditions for regional security, stability, and prosperity." Seib's latest article in The Huffington Post is a critique about how CENTCOM has been handling combat operations in Iraq……

U.S. gov’t, foundation subsidies of news media attract criticism in Africa

GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa — African Journalists were critical today of reports that U.S. journalists receive subsidies and payments from foundations and the U.S. government. Two recent Annenberg reports were discussed at an annual media forum here, at the Highway Africa Conference 2010: "Public Policy and Funding the News" focuses on historic and current federal subsidies for news media. And "Philanthropic Foundations: Growing Funders of the News" is an analysis of increasing foundation support for American journalism…….

Senior Fellow Cinny Kennard Sworn in as Special Consultant for the FCC

The Federal Communications Commission recently appointed Senior Fellow Cinny Kennard as a Special Consultant to work on the team researching and preparing a report on the Future of Media & Information Needs of Communities in a Digital Age. According to the FCC, "the goal of the project is to help ensure that all Americans have access to vibrant, diverse sources of news and information that will enable them to enrich their families, communities and democracy." As traditional forms of news struggle to survive and new forms of media flourish, the research team will acquire extensive knowledge of the media world……

Curtin to examine the role and practice of American diplomacy in the 21st century

Jeremy Curtin, Senior Fellow at the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy, is leading a project for the Henry L. Stimson Center and the American Academy of Diplomacy (AAD) to study the training and education needed to prepare American diplomats for 21st century statecraft. The project will examine what American diplomats do now and what they will be called upon to do in the future; what professional skills are necessary to carry out these tasks successfully; what skills should be added and outdated ones dropped; and what patterns of training, education and assignments can best prepare our diplomats to achieve……

Should Government Support Journalism? It Always Has

Everyone knows from American history class that the First Amendment is the great protector of press freedom in the United States, barring Congress from "abridging" the sacred right to publish what you want to publish. So does that means there's a constitutional wall that separates government and the press, just as it separates church and state? Not exactly. Contrary to popular perception, the Constitution has not prevented the government from being a supporter of the press, and in fact it has been a generous benefactor since the founding of the country. In a report issued at USC's Annenberg School for……