(Note: The following are notes made for remarks at Thursday's conference at the Joan Shorenstein Center on Press, Politics, and Public Policy on "How to Make Money in News." I spoke briefly about foundation-funded journalism and made a special note about the emerging non-news organizations.) I'm going to talk briefly about another of the missions of Geoff Cowan's center (the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy) and of USC Annenberg and that is the nonprofit new-media sector, including operations financed by foundations and other philanthropy. I also want to mention an emerging model that's worth watching: the non-news organizations. These……
Month: October 2009
Communication Leadership Reception: Senator George McGovern
The Center on Communication Leadership & Policy, in partnership with USC Annenberg School of Communication, communication professor Robert Scheer, and the USC Unruh Institute of Politics, presents a reception with former U.S. Senator and 1972 Democratic Presidential nominee George McGovern. Senator McGovern is the author of a new biography of Abraham Lincoln. From Publisher's Weekly, "In this modest, fluent bio, part of the American Presidents Series, former Democratic senator and presidential nominee McGovern finds an inspiring lesson in what a man can do with his life. McGovern's Lincoln is a smart, ambitious striver who overcame humble origins, repeated setbacks and……
Obamas branch beyond TV news shows
The Baltimore Sun quoted Faculty Fellow Philip Seib about the Obama family's appearances on TV shows like "Iron Chef America" and "The Colbert Report." "Obama and his people understand that you have to constantly pop up in all these different venues like ESPN, the Food Network, and Comedy Central because the audience has become so segmented – so chopped up," Seib said. "It used to be if you wanted to reach the majority of the American public, you just called up Walter Cronkite and said, 'Come on, we'll give you a half-hour in the White House.' And that was it,……
Newsday is first to take the plunge, goes all-pay online next week; one major provider vows to remain free
NEW YORK — Look, up in the sky! It's a balloon! No, it's not Falcom Heene floating over Colorado (or not, as it turned out). It's Terry Jimenez, floating over Long Island! Who??? Dear readers, meet Terry Jimenez, hero to newspaper publishers and scourge of free content on the Internet. What, you've never heard of him? Those of you without the Terry Jimenez poster can write to the Newspaper Association of America. Think of the iconic Farrah Fawcett poster, but with presses rolling. Really. No, just kidding (I think)…….
Stanton’s local strategy: data and citizen participation
Russ Stanton is one of my favorite people. Imagine the stereotype of a reserved, slightly stuffy big-city editor and that's not Russ.The editor of the Los Angeles Times for the last 20 months, Stanton is uncommonly down to earth and available. But the main reason I like him is his public honesty. Stanton's default response is to tell the truth — something that doesn't come easily to most executives struggling to keep their enterprise alive. Asked earlier this year how many news staffers could be sustained if the Times went Web only, Stanton could have been forgiven for taking a……
Richard Reeves: Look to history for health-care direction
The State Journal-Register ran an op-ed by Senior Fellow Richard Reeves on health care reform. "Socialism or not, history is pushing health-care reform into law. It will not be 100 percent of what President Barack Obama wanted. It will be a compromise bill with some Republican input – and it will be added to and expanded over the years," Reeves wrote…….
Business book reviews
The Dallas Morning News ran a review of "The Essential Bennis" by Distinguished Fellow Warren Bennis. The review stated that Bennis has compiled his insights of more than 50 years into one volume, including what he identifies as four core competencies gifted leaders have in abundance: adaptive capacity, the ability to engage others in a shared vision, a distinctive voice, and integrity…….
Mike Bloomberg Owns This Town
New York Magazine noted that Senior Fellow Richard Reeves was one of the writers who helped the magazine create its list of the most powerful people in New York. These writers "constructed not just a numerical ranking of the city's movers and shakers but a vivid tapestry of how those players – many of them unelected and obscure — interacted to shape public life in New York," the story stated…….
Essay and a Woman’s Nation
I have just returned from the Los Angeles launch of A Woman's Nation –an ambitious project and a unique report on the status of American women which includes an essay I co authored with Stacy Smith, Ph.D. and Amy Granados entitled Sexy Socialization: Today's Media and the Next Generation of Women" . The Womens' Nation initiative is produced by California First Lady Maria Shriver with partners including the Center for American Progress (CAP) and the CCLP and the multifaceted report –including a comprehensive national poll–is known as, The Shriver Report…….
CCLP essay published in Shriver Report reveals gender bias in media
Fellows from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy have authored an essay in a report released October 15 by award-winning broadcast journalist and author Maria Shriver. Shriver is working in partnership with CCLP and the Center for American Progress on an ambitious research project examining how women's changing roles are affecting government, businesses, faith communities and the media. Findings are being released in The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything. It "outlines how these institutions rely on outdated models of who works and who cares for our families, and examines how all these parts of the culture have……