A Third Party

WASHINGTON — It may not get much done, but the first session of the 112th Congress, convening in January, will be fun to watch. The most interesting commentary on the 2010 midterm elections was from Republican partisans and their Tea Party cousins as they rhetorically, warily circled each other on the morning after. The man who managed Senator-elect Rand Paul's primary campaign in Kentucky, David Adams, had this to say: "I'm hoping for a lot of fireworks in Washington over who takes control of who. If Republican leaders think for a minute they're going to suck us in and continue……Continue Reading A Third Party

Public radio is enjoying boom times

Dean Ernest J. Wilson III of USC Annenberg and the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy are preparing for the annual James L. Loper Lecture in Public Broadcasting on November 18, 2010. This year's speaker is NPR president and CEO, Vivian Schiller. Public radio, despite the failings of most media outlets in the US, is experiencing an increase in listeners and in funding. Below is an article published in The Los Angeles Times by James Rainey exploring the growth that is occurring in public radio. ——————————————————————————————————————————————- Larry Mantle, right, host of KPCC's popular "AirTalk" program. (Irfan Khan, Los Angeles Times……Continue Reading Public radio is enjoying boom times

Glickman in Variety

"It is going to be a changed world, regardless of what happens," said Senior Fellow Dan Glickman regarding the midterm elections on November 2. Glickman, the former chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, was interviewed by Variety about what the outcome of the election results means for the country at large…….Continue Reading Glickman in Variety

Annual Report to the Annenberg Foundation for Fiscal Year 2009-10

Background In 2006, the Annenberg Foundation established the Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and established and endowed the Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. In 2009, the Center's name was changed to the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) to better reflect the breadth of its activities and research. The Foundation established and endowed the Annenberg Family Chair with a $3 million grant in July 2006. The Foundation established CCLP through a $3 million grant scheduled to be paid in five installments of $600,000, beginning in July……Continue Reading Annual Report to the Annenberg Foundation for Fiscal Year 2009-10

NPR, Juan Williams and the Clash of News and Talk

"Would you have fired Juan if you were still Vice President of News at NPR?" asked a longtime friend. He was referring of course to NPR News analyst Juan Williams' expression of concern about fellow airplane passengers in "Muslim garb." (Rhetoric note: He was trying to make the exact reverse point than his subordinate preamble suggested, so he's due demerits for poor phrasing.) My answer: It's not a hypothetical. We actually faced these same issues in the late 1980's, when I was head of NPR News: Cokie Roberts, who was covering Capitol Hill for NPR, received an offer from ABC……Continue Reading NPR, Juan Williams and the Clash of News and Talk

Bennis on Economic Times website

The Moghul of the modern day field of leadership studies, otherwise known as Distinguished Fellow Warren Bennis was profiled on the website for The Economic Times. He spoke of his newest release Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Lifetime in Leadership and said that he still can "see the world with the same wide-eyed wonder as I did years ago, because everything is so different from what it was then."……Continue Reading Bennis on Economic Times website

Westphal in LA Observed

Senior Fellow David Westphal and the California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting at USC Annenberg was profiled on the LA Observed blog. Westphal said that the project has "demonstrated one point clearly: that a news organization supported by a foundation (the California HealthCare Foundation) and affiliated with a university journalism school (USC Annenberg) can partner with local news organizations to produce difference-making journalism."……Continue Reading Westphal in LA Observed

Bennis in Fortune on Obama’s Leadership

"When you read Obama's speeches, they're beautiful," says Warren Bennis, Distinguished CCLP Fellow. "They'll go down as some of the most brilliant essays. But none of them has a sound bite. Where is Reagan's, 'Mr. Gorbachev tear down that wall?'" Bennis was cited an article on Fortune Magazine's website where experts were asked to critique the leadership qualities of President Obama…….Continue Reading Bennis in Fortune on Obama’s Leadership

Seib comments on Rally to Restore Sanity

The Internet only amplifies these movements, said Faculty Fellow Philip Seib to the Christian Science Monitor. Seib was commenting on Jon Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity" which is now sparking sister rallies from Tel Aviv to the Mt. Everest Base Camp, including one in Downtown Los Angeles. "I would think we're going to have more and more phenomenon that start national and become global." Seib also speculates that internet will help in the creation and coordination of grassroots political movements…….Continue Reading Seib comments on Rally to Restore Sanity