CCLP maintains several areas of impact that guide the Center’s projects, research and efforts. Past projects and events are included below, and many of them were led by CCLP Senior Fellows.
Politics, Power, and the Press
CCLP continues to host programming series to discuss the polarized American political landscape and to better understand how journalism continues to be impacted by election seasons, campaign coverage, and the world of politics.
Current project:
Presidential Elections Programming (2008 – Present)
CCLP has a long history of presenting election-year programming that discusses the polarized U.S. political landscape. It maintains a focus on how journalism continues to be impacted by election seasons and campaign coverage. Since 2008, CCLP has hosted programming at both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions and an Election Night viewing for USC students.
2024
For the 16th year, CCLP and its partners hosted academic discussions at the national political conventions. A joint election-year panel series, “The Annenberg Roundtable Conversations on Politics, Media, and Society,” convened students and guests for important conversations at RNC in Milwaukee, July 16-18, and DNC in Chicago, August 19-22.
CCLP produced magazines and video recordings from its roundtable events.
2020
In the weeks following Election Day, CCLP partnered with the Center for the Political Future and the USC Gould School of Law to host several conversations on the aftermath of the unprecedented 2020 election cycle and how political leaders, the courts, media, and citizen activists treated the returns.
In anticipation of the 2020 Presidential Election, the Center also helped host USC Annenberg’s Ballot 2020 series, whose 2020 programming included:
- Ballot 2020: New Hampshire Democratic Primary
- Ballot 2020: Charleston Debate Live Stream
- Ballot 2020: Super Tuesday
- Ball0t 2020: Protecting US Elections from Cyber Attacks
- Ballot 2020: Biden’s Choice
- Ballot 2020: DNC Watch Party
- Ballot 2020: Debating Debates
- Ballot 2020: Vice Presidential Debate Pre-Show
- Ballot 2020: Media, Politics, and the 2020 Election
2016
Leading up to the 2016 Presidential Election, events included trips to both the Republican and Democratic national conventions, visits for USC Annenberg students to the inauguration and Women’s March on Washington, a forum about how the executive orders of President Trump would affect USC, and a bipartisan panel about how the media functions in the Trump era. CCLP also supported the publication of a report by Harvard University Professor Tom Patterson and the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy on the media coverage of the first 100 days of the Trump presidency. You can find the report here.
CCLP and USC’s Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics hosted a live viewing of President Obama’s 2015 State of the Union Address, followed by analysis with political communications experts and USC student leaders. 
250 students filled the lobby at Wallis Annenberg Hall for the 2015 State of the Union Live Viewing — the largest on-campus turnout for a political event since the 2012 election night viewing, according to Dan Schnur, Executive Director, USC Dornsife Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics. 
Students filled Wallis Annenberg Hall to watch the second Republican Presidential Debate and two panel discussions: the first ever Donatelli Experts-In-Residence Panel Discussion and a second panel by the USC Unruh Institute of Politics and CCLP.
2015
CCLP hosted live viewings of the 2015 State of the Union and second Republican Presidential Debate.
2012
At the national political conventions in Tampa and Charlotte, CCLP hosted “Politics & the Media: Bridging the Political Divide in the 2012 Election” alongside partners Norman Pearlstine of Bloomberg and Trey Grayson of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Cowan and event partners Norman Pearlstine and David Eisenhower kicked off the 2012 national political conventions programming at the Blomberg Link at the RNC in Tampa. (Photo courtesy of Bloomberg.) 
Cowan spoke at the DNC programming, which took place at the Bloomberg link in Charlotte, NC in partnership with Harvard IOP and Bloomberg LP. (Photo courtesy of Bloomberg.) 
CCLP presented a conversation on the 2012 presidential election featuring CCLP senior fellow and presidential biographer Richard Reeves. 
CCLP presented a forum on international affairs and the 2012 presidential election featuring CCLP Faculty Fellow Gordon Stables and Shawn Powers, an expert on emerging media in the Middle East and Northern Africa. 
CCLP alongside USC Dornsife College’s Unruh Institute of Politics presented a live viewing of the RNC Nomination Speech and a post-speech discussion with Dan Schnur, director of the Unruh Institute. 
CCLP helped students and faculty gather in the lobby of the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism to watch President Barack Obama accept the Democratic presidential nomination. 
CCLP presented a conversation on the 2012 elections featuring CCLP senior fellow Morley Winograd and Mike Hais, co-authors of Millennial Momentum: How a new generation is remaking America. 
CCLP and the USC Dornsife College’s Unruh Institute of Politics sponsored a live viewing of the third 2012 Presidential Debate from the Annenberg East Lobby. 
CCLP presented a discussion of human trafficking on the Prop 35 on the California ballot, featuring Chris Kelly, D’Lita Miller, and John Vanek. CCLP Director Geoffrey Cowan delivered opening remarks and CCLP Research Director Mark Latonero moderated the discussion. 
Students gathered at the Ronald Tutor Campus Center Tuesday night to watch the election results and enjoy the event hosted by CCLP, the Political Student Assembly, Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, and the USC Program Board.
CCLP presented events under “Road to the White House 2012: Politics, Media & Policy,” a weekly series produced in partnership with USC Dornsife’s Unruh Institute of Politics and USC Price’s Bedrosian Center on Governance and the Public Enterprise.
CCLP co-presented “Debate Watch 2010: Brown v. Whitman,” on Tuesday, October 12, 2010. 
CCLP helped present a 2010 Election Night viewing. 
Before the 2011 State of the Union speech, CCLP hosted a panel featuring CCLP Director Geoffrey Cowan, Director of the USC Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics Dan Schnur, and Former Editor-in-Chief of the USC Daily Trojan Kate Mather.
2010
CCLP presented programming related to the 2010 midterm elections.
2008
CCLP’s inaugural conference “Ceasefire! Bridging the Political Divide” brought together leaders from both political parties who have successfully built consensus around some of the nation’s most challenging problems. Held June 18-19, 2007, the conference was described as potentially “the most important gathering of the year,” by Matthew Dowd, political strategist and former adviser to President George W. Bush.
Titled “Bridging the Political Divide,” CCLP hosted its first convention panel series with POLITICO at the RNC in St. Paul and DNC in Denver.
CCLP and POLITICO hosted an event entitled “Politics and the Media: Bridging the Political Divide in the 2008 Presidential Election” in Denver during the Democratic National Convention. 
CCLP and POLITICO hosted an event entitled “Politics and the Media, Bridging the Political Divide in the 2008 Presidential Election” in St. Paul, Minnesota during the Republican National Convention. 
CCLP, the Center on Communication Leadership and the USC Unruh Institute of Politics, invited students, faculty and friends to watch the acceptance speech of Senator John McCain for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. 
Starting at 5 pm on Election Night, CCLP and the USC Unruh Institute of Politics invited students, faculty and friends to watch a telecast of election returns. 
CCLP, USC College’s Political Science department and the USC Unruh Institute of Politics hosted a viewing of the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Following the ceremony, there was a discussion on the inaugural speech and the future of Obama’s presidency.
Top Secret Play (2007 – 2008)
The play, Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, concluded a five-week run at the historic 4th Street Theater in Manhattan’s East Village. CCLP presented the play in partnership with New York Theatre Workshop, L.A. Theatre Works and Affinity Company Theater. The New York Theatre Workshop’s founding trustee, Stephen Graham, is the son of the late Washington Post publisher and Top Secret protagonist Katharine Graham.
Co-written by Geoffrey Cowan and late journalism professor Leroy Aarons, the play is an inside look at the Washington Post’s decision to publish a top-secret study documenting the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. The subsequent trial tested the parameters of the First Amendment, pitting the public’s right to know against the government’s claim of secrecy. The epic legal battle between the government and the press went to the nation’s highest court and is perhaps the most important Supreme Court case ever on freedom of the press.
In conjunction with the New York production, CCLP presented a series of post-performance discussions with journalists, political leaders and scholars hosted by such organizations as the Columbia Journalism Review and the Asia Society. Among those participating in the discussions were legendary investigative reporter Carl Bernstein, New York Times Managing Editor Jill Abramson, Washington Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli, Bloomberg Chief Content Officer Norm Pearlstine, and Daniel Ellsberg, the American military analyst who released the Pentagon Papers.
The play won the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Gold Medal for Excellence in Best Live Entertainment. The 2007-2008 national tour was accompanied by seminars and discussions with many with first-hand knowledge of the controversy–including Ellsberg and John Dean, then White House counsel to President Richard M. Nixon and later a key witness for the Watergate prosecution.
Ceasefire! Bridging the Political Divide (2007)
The Center on Communication Leadership & Policy’s inaugural conference, Ceasefire! Bridging the Political Divide, brought together leaders from both political parties who have successfully built consensus around some of the nation’s most challenging problems. Held June 18-19, 2007, the conference was described as potentially “the most important gathering of the year,” by Matthew Dowd, political strategist and former adviser to President George W. Bush.
Speakers included California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, then Arizona Governor and Chair of the National Governors Association Janet Napolitano, then Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, former Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, former California Governor Gray Davis, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, philanthropists Lauren Bon and Sherry Lansing, producer Kevin Wall, political strategist Matthew Dowd, Gov. Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff Susan Kennedy, and journalists Margaret Carlson, Jay Carney, Michael Kinsley, Lawrence O’Donnell, Juan Williams and Judy Woodruff.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, CCLP and POLITICO hosted discussions with top political journalists and strategists at both the Republican and Democratic national conventions. CCLP Director Geoffrey Cowan and POLITICO Executive Director Jim VandeHei led the conversation.
Panelists included Catalina Camia, political editor, USA Today; Margaret Carlson, columnist, Bloomberg News; Nina Easton, Washington Bureau chief, FORTUNE; Mark McKinnon, former chief media advisor to Senator John McCain and President George W. Bush; Roger Simon, author and chief political columnist, POLITICO; Cass Sunstein, author of Republic.com 2.0 and advisor to then Senator Barack Obama; Karen Tumulty, TIME magazine national political correspondent; and Juan Williams, author, Fox News Channel political analyst and NPR news analyst.
Reports:
The Future of News
CCLP is exploring new models that will sustain quality journalism from the international to the local level while leveraging partnerships and the opportunity to reach broader audiences through technological advances.
Current project:
Mapping and App-ing Los Angeles (2018 – 2019)
CCLP partnered with the L.A. Times and the USC Harman Academy’s Ahmanson Lab to explore ways to tell newsroom stories using augmented reality. This collaboratory addressed the dual issues of a disjointed Los Angeles and a declining local press by working in partnership with the L.A. Times to create a mobile app for delivering immersive journalism. The project focused on large-scale environmental reports (e.g. stories about floods, hurricanes or fires) that when read, are often hard to visualize. A team of six talented students prototyped a method for using augmented reality as a way to move a user through the spread of the 2018 Camp Fire in California, as if they were experiencing it in real-time. At the invitation of former McClatchy President & CEO (and CCLP Board member) Craig Forman, our also team visited the McClatchy New Ventures Lab in Sacramento.
Women in Media Conversations (2018-2019)
Women are playing a defining role in the reinvention of the media and communications industry. Through public-facing programming, CCLP has brought industry-leading women to USC to engage in thought-provoking conversations about the future of women and media, building off the expertise of many of our Senior Fellows. For the 2018-2019 academic year our programming included:
- Media’s Gender Revolution: One year into the contemporary #MeToo movement, what’s changed – and what hasn’t?
- A conversation with former Glamour Editor-in-Chief Cindi Leive
- International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Award Winners come to USC
- A conversation with Nancy Gibbs, former Editor-At-Large of TIME Magazine
- A conversation with Jill Abramson, former Executive Editor of The New York Times
Children’s Media and the Impact of News on American Youth (2016 – 2017)
CCLP partnered with Annenberg Dean Willow Bay, non-profit Common Sense Media, and the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center to host a meeting with stakeholders about the ways that children’s issues are covered by the media. The meeting focused on the psychological impact of the news on children and the credibility of traditional news sources in the eyes of American youth. Led by CCLP board member Jim Steyer and Senior Fellow Nicco Mele, the initiative was kicked off in March 2017 with a two-day conference at Harvard University (read more about the Harvard University conference here). The project is accompanied by an investigation, by Common Sense Media, into news and America’s kids. The concluding report from the investigation, which discusses issues such as whether or not children can spot fake news, how different sources of news are trusted by children, and how children most often get their news, was presented at a CCLP conference.
Continuing Education: USC / New York Times Knowledge Network (2009 – 2012)
The New York Times Knowledge Network and the University of Southern California joined forces to establish and offer a new online continuing education program. As part of the program, the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy offered courses in journalism and public relations beginning in October 2011. Led by Mark Latonero, CCLP’s former director of research and instruction, courses were taught by CCLP instructors with journalists from The New York Times.
A series of six courses in journalism for high school students were offered beginning in October 2011. Students enrolled in any of the two week courses taught by Latonero and Larry Wilson, an award-winning journalist, editor and highly rated USC Annenberg lecturer, with participation by journalists from The New York Times.
For more information on the classes offered for high school journalists, click on any of the links below:
- Who, What, When, Where, How & Why? Introduction to Journalism for High School Students
- How to Start a Blog for High School Students
- Editing for High School Students
- Running a Community Blog for High School Students
- Don’t Bury the Lede – Feature Writing for High School Students
- Creating Video for the Web for High School Students
Democracy and Culture of Civic Conversation Forum (2011)
“You want to do something good for democracy?” asked Tom Hollihan, Ph.D., USC Annenberg professor and CCLP faculty fellow. “Subscribe to a newspaper!” he told the audience at the California Council for the Humanities’ Searching for Democracy Forum, a symposium co-sponsored by the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy.
Hollihan’s suggestion that a strong democracy requires a vibrant news media was just one of many views on democracy and civic discourse offered by participants at the March 4th meeting held at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy. Co-sponsored by nearly a dozen nonprofit organizations and academic institutions, the event kicked off a two-year initiative designed to foster public discourse on the meaning of democracy through a series of local, regional and statewide activities.
Read more and watch the video recordings: https://communicationleadership.usc.edu/2011/03/07/first-step-in-preserving-democracy/
A Woman’s Nation (2009)
California first lady Maria Shriver partnered with CCLP, the Center for American Progress and TIME magazine on A Woman’s Nation, a multifaceted project taking an empirical look at the status of American women today. A Woman’s Nation included roundtables, a national poll, interviews with icons of the women’s movement and other prominent leaders, and publication of The Shriver Report, combining the findings of economists and academics. The Shriver Report features the essay “Sexy Socialization- Today’s media and the next generation of women” authored by CCLP senior fellow Cinny Kennard, CCLP faculty fellow Stacy Smith, Ph.D., and CCLP graduate fellow Amy Granados.
Institute for Photographic Empowerment (2006-2009)
A unique university-community partnership with Venice Arts, CCLP created the Institute for Photographic Empowerment, which supports the study and practice of participant-produced documentary projects in photography, film and digital media. The first institute of its kind, IPE serves as a growing resource for people around the world–from journalists, politicians and academics to photographers, filmmakers and project participants–to share ideas and learn from one another.
Reports:
Public Diplomacy
Director of Washington Programs Adam Clayton Powell III hosts monthly lunches in Washington, D.C. that tackle themes of public diplomacy. CCLP also conducts research and supports initiatives that promote international broadcasting and cultural diplomacy.
Current project:
Why the Voice of America Remains a Vital Force (2017)
CCLP Director Geoffrey Cowan published a report in defense of Voice of America (VOA) for the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. The report was modified from a speech he gave to the World Affairs Council of the Desert in Indian Wells, CA, on December 13, 2015. Later that spring, he traveled to Capitol Hill to make the case for VOA in person.
Reports:
Technology and Mobile Innovation
Explanation
Current project:
Combating Violent Extremism (2016)
The U.S. State Department partnered with CCLP and the Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands, among others, to discuss means to combat violent extremism; the coalition formed by the State Department hosted meetings with media figures, Middle Eastern leaders, and representatives of academia here in the United States to discuss CVE.
Civic Tech USC (2014-2016)
Launched in 2014 by CCLP and the USC Price School of Public Policy, the USC Open Data LA initiative aimed to promote transparency and civic engagement in Los Angeles, beginning with a survey to assess the state of publicly available city data in each of L.A. County’s 88 cities.
“Open data is a new aspect of journalism in the public interest,” Dana Chinn, CCLP faculty fellow and USC Annenberg project lead, said in an announcement for the initiative. “It’s a worldwide movement, but we’re going to focus on how open data initiatives can address the unique needs of the greater Los Angeles community.”
In 2015, the Civic Tech USC research team at the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) investigated what cities in Los Angeles County were 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 violations, transportation stats, property information, campaign contributions, and more. Open data is a movement that has grown over the past few years to make all that information freely accessible in digital, machine-readable formats so that it can be used, modified, reused, and shared by anyone for any purpose. This, in turn, has the potential to increase transparency, encourage citizen participation, attract new business, and improve government efficiency.
We are pleased to present our comprehensive new report, Empowering the Public Through Open Data: Findings & Recommendations for City Leaders in Los Angeles County. The report contains findings and recommendations for city leaders and other open data advocates based on survey responses from 51 of the county’s 88 cities; in-depth interviews with officials from 10 local jurisdictions; a review of existing research about open data from academic, public, and private sectors; and criteria from the U.S. City Open Data Census.
Get Mobile Forum on Mobile Technology for Community Engagement (2014-2016)
In September of 2014, CCLP and the California Endowment came together to explore how widely used technologies, such as cell phones, can be leveraged to advance community health and well-being. Our report from the workshop, which brought together local community organizations, shows how mobile technology can amplify community engagement and empowerment.
Technology & Human Trafficking (2010-2015)
CCLP’s Technology & Trafficking Initiative began in 2010 with a meeting convened in Washington, D.C. by CCLP director Geoffrey Cowan with Alec Ross, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s senior adviser for Innovation. Then, in February 2015, CCLP published the first comprehensive report on human trafficking and technology, based on a $130,000 research grant from Humanity United. Research Director Mark Latonero and his team traveled to the Philippines to conduct field research and investigate online labor recruitment. The report, Technology and Labor Trafficking in a Network Society, was distributed widely to inform government, NGOs, researchers and the business community on how to improve future interventions in forced labor and exploitation.
Reports: