Empowering the Public Through Open Data: Findings & Recommendations for City Leaders in Los Angeles County

Over the past year the Civic Tech USC research team here at the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) has been investigating what cities in Los Angeles County are doing to make their government data easily accessible to the public. Cities already collect vast troves of information, such as crime stats, budgets/financial expenditures, code…

Civility No More: Where Are the Better Angels of Politics?

This article by CCLP senior fellow Dan Glickman was originally published on The Huffington Post. In 1860 as this nation stood on the brink of civil war, President Abraham Lincoln implored Americans and their political leaders to think of, “the better angels of our nature,” before committing totally to the dissolution of the Union. To…

2016: We Need More Healing, Not More Division

This article by CCLP senior fellow Matthew Dowd was originally published on The Huffington Post. There is an old Cherokee Native American legend about the two wolves that feels once again apropos for today’s conversation in our country (I have cited this before in a previous column), and the emergence of the Summer of Trump….

Uses for Anger in Making a Better World

This article by CCLP senior fellow Matthew Dowd was originally published in the Huffington Post. Is anger a bad thing? What should we do if a person is angry or a large group of voters is angry and frustrated? Call that person names, tell them they shouldn't be angry, ignore it? Observing the last few weeks, especially the rise of Donald Trump, and to some degree Sen. Bernie Sanders, made me cognizant of the brewing anger and distrust that exists in America today. And made me pause and wonder about the questions posed above, and what to do with the……

Russia’s Stalinist diplospeak

This article by CCLP visiting fellow Vasily Gatov was originally published in The Daily Beast. A Russian linguist closely examines how the Russian Foreign Ministry's communication has resurrected the creepy old Soviet style. Russian is a tough language to learn not because of the complex tenses and six cases, but because the style of communication is what matters most. The Russian style not only expresses the mood of the speaker or writer, a certain political situation, or the time and circumstances of the moment; the Russian style also "smells." Or stinks. Thus, Russian politics are all about the style of……

Weapons of Mass Deception: Part Two

This article was written by CCLP visiting fellow Vasily Gatov and was originally published by the Institute of Modern Russia. In part one of his essay, prominent Russian media analyst Vasily Gatov explained the origins of Putin's anti-Western narrative and the current Russian propaganda campaign. In this second installment, he focuses on the twisted logic behind this narrative and the mistakes of the West, and he provides recommendations on how to counter the Kremlin's offensive. Launching an Offensive Against the West There is another side of the story that I merely touched on at the beginning of this article. By……

Fellows say political polarization is increasing

Political polarization is growing in this country, said CCLP senior fellows Matthew Dowd and Narda Zacchino at a Communication Leadership Roundtable at the new Wallis Annenberg Hall on March 23. The data, Dowd said, shows that "we're at the most polarized state that we've ever been in." Left to right: Narda Zacchino, Matthew Dowd, Geoffrey Cowan, and Geoffrey Baum Dowd and Zacchino were joined by CCLP director Geoffrey Cowan and CCLP advisory board members and senior fellows who were in town for a board meeting prior to the event, as well as staff and students from the USC Annenberg School……

LA Theatre Works to honor Geoffrey Cowan

Well-known as a best-selling author, public interest lawyer, academic administrator, government official, distinguished professor, and Emmy Award-winning producer, CCLP director Geoffrey Cowan is also a notable playwright who will be honored by LA Theatre Works to celebrate their decades-long collaboration. Cowan has worked with LA Theatre Works for 25 years on his award-winning play Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, which originally premiered as a radio play in 1991 in front of a live audience for national broadcast on NPR and later toured the country in 2007-8, had a five week run in New York City in 2010,……

As I lay dying

Laurie Becklund's op-ed posthumously published in the LA Times…….

Hundreds gather in Annenberg Hall to watch President Obama’s penultimate State of the Union address

On Tuesday night about 250 people packed the new Wallis Annenberg Hall to watch President Obama's sixth State of the Union address, the Republican response by Sen. Joni Ernst and a panel discussion that included two CCLP senior fellows. The event, which according to CCLP senior fellow Dan Schnur had the largest on-campus turnout for a political event since the 2012 election night viewing, was co-sponsored by USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy and the Unruh Institute of Politics. See more event photos in our Flickr album……