Smith in USC News – “Black Characters”

According to a study performed by Faculty Fellow Stacy Smith, Hollywood movies directed by African Americans are significantly more likely to include African-American characters with speaking roles than movies not directed by African Americans. The report, co-authored by project administrator Marc Choueiti, also found that only one of the top 200 movies from 2007 and 2008 was directed by an African-American woman, according to the "Black Characters" report. "Black Characters" also quantifies the continuing, although slightly diminished, sexualization of black female movie roles versus black male movie roles. [Full article]……Continue Reading Smith in USC News – “Black Characters”

Crime Seen From Two Cities

PARIS and NEW YORK — One of the most important men in the world, Dominique Strauss-Kahn of France, was on his way to meet with prime ministers and finance ministers from around the world on May 14 when he was pulled off an Air France flight to Paris by New York cops and treated exactly the same way any alleged felon is around New York — that is, badly. The next morning he was on most every television screen in the world, silent, unshaven and handcuffed. That is standard New York Police Department procedure, seen everywhere because the State of……Continue Reading Crime Seen From Two Cities

CCLP's Latonero Joins Disaster Preparedness Taskforce

The March earthquake, tsunami, and radiation disaster in Japan offers a stark reminder of the need to prepare for emergencies and natural disasters. While most of the public's attention is focused on transportation and energy infrastructure needs, an equally important but often neglected aspect of civil preparedness is developing the proper communication infrastructure in advance of a crisis. To address this need, the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy's Research Director Mark Latonero is helping the Center for National Policy to develop the necessary communications strategies and social media approach to prepare the public for emergencies and natural disasters. As……Continue Reading CCLP's Latonero Joins Disaster Preparedness Taskforce

Pakistan and America: The Bad Marriage

The last time I saw Abbottabad, I was in a crowd of a couple of hundred men watching a dancing bear hopping up and down and then wrestling in the dust with the owner's son. The crowd enjoyed it and stayed for the end, the collecting of coins. There was not a lot of entertainment around there; people looked and stopped at anything out of the ordinary. So, like all people, the folks there gossiped about most anything they noticed–say, a million-dollar compound with 18-foot walls and opaque windows three times the size of anything else in what we would……Continue Reading Pakistan and America: The Bad Marriage