USC ANNENBERG HOSTS COLLOQUIUM ON CHINA MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION STUDIES

USC Annenberg hosted a Colloquium on China Media and Communication Studies from Dec. 14 to 15, which brought leading scholars from around the world to conduct a comparative assessment of China communication studies from Chinese and Western perspectives, identifying critical gaps and opportunities for a future research agenda. Speakers, panelists and moderators included faculty and experts from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Australia, Canada, England and the United States.

"This dialogue is especially important at this moment in world history because the practice and the field of communication is itself at a critical crossroads – not just in the United States, of course, but around the world," USC Annenberg Dean Ernest J. Wilson III said. "All societies around the world are experiencing a transition from the old to the new. The old way of communicating is transforming to a new networked, distributive, interactive way of communicating in an information-networked society. This is important because the way that each country manages this transition will greatly affect many major issues around the world, from basic international understanding, to matters of trade, and indeed to matters of war and peace."

The Colloquium began with the inaugural Wellen Sham Distinguished Lecture, delivered by Dr. Lu Ye of Shanghai's Fudan University and made possible by the recently pledged $1 million Wellen Sham Family Endowment.

Dr. Ye outlined the advancements and issues Chinese communication and media have faced in the last 30 years, saying that in the last five years, China has seen many media changes based on social reform. Local television in China has seen an increase in bad news, global news and "pretty faces" who deliver the news. She said the increase in reporting on bad news is important because in the past the government focused on reporting only positive stories about China. She also noted surveys show that people in China who watch more international news are actually more nationalistic. The "pretty faces," she said, are the result of the market economy driving media to become more commercialized.

"I think it's really big progress in China," she said. "Yes, it’s still propaganda. It’s still a party organ. But we’re trying to do something about the separation, about the investigative journalism.”

She used an example of a young Chinese couple who were arrested about five years ago to highlight China's advancing views on the line between state power and personal rights. When police entered the couple's house and found they were looking at pornography on their computer, they arrested the man. She said in the past that people in China would be happy he was arrested because he was doing something he shouldn't, but now more would think he should be left alone.

"People now are talking about personal lives, between state power and personal rights," she said. "I think this is a very important change in China. Maybe in the early times, people in China would say, 'You really need to be put in jail,' but now they say, ‘No, it’s my personal life. Good or bad — that’s another judgment — but the police don’t have the right.'”

"This annual event, in partnership with Fudan University in Shanghai, will focus on emerging topics in communication of relevance to the United States and to China, especially as it relates to communication and media," Dean Wilson said. "We have the great luxury in this lecture series of not only concentrating on things of the moment, but also more importantly to concentrate on things of lasting value because we know that the lecture series will last until the future."

Read more about Dr. Ye's lecture >>
Visit the Colloquium's online network >>

 

INNOVATOR-IN-RESIDENCE WLADWSKY-BERGER CALLS FOR CREATION OF DESIGN STUDIOS AT UNIVERSITIES TO BUILD PROTOTYPES FOR INNOVATION

USC Annenberg’s first Innovator-in-Residence, Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, led a Nov. 3 conversation focused on innovation, saying universities could help their own causes by building design studios and prototypes to attract interest and support.

Dr. Wladawsky-Berger used examples from his time as head of IBM’s Internet strategy to give schools such as USC Annenberg advice on how to innovate and stay ahead of the technological curve.

“IBM totally shifted in recognizing that the forum was in the marketplace,” he said. “To be part of that forum, you have to be brave enough to get out into the marketplace. If you stay in your castle, in your labs, in your university and you don’t go out there, that’s not where the game is being played. You have to go out there. … The key lesson was, keep inventing stuff, but you have to change your way and move from the research lab to the marketplace.”

Dean Ernest J. Wilson III, who invited Wladawsky-Berger to visit the School for a week to discuss innovative ideas, said the innovator-in-residence is well-versed on making positive and impactful changes.

“Dr. Wladawsky-Berger participated in one of the great innovation experiments in the history of modern media and modern industry,” Dean Wilson said. “When working with CEO Lou Gerstner of IBM, he turned that large important company and helped them change direction when he had responsibility for the Internet and Internet strategy in the early 1990s.”

Wladawsky-Berger pointed to the viability of Los Angeles as a possible center for innovation and marketing, using Annenberg’s immersive journalism projects as an example.

“There has to be a university,” said Wladawsky-Berger, hinting that USC might lead the way by mimicking the idea of a consortium of schools and developing a “design studio” that could create prototypes. “You cannot be a major entrepreneurial area without a major university…it would be really good to see a prototype of (an immersive journalism project). The talent to build prototypes like that is all over Los Angeles.”

He added that the idea of such a design studio would be to provide opportunities for students to take innovative ideas to the prototype stage.

“They produce the ideas, we give them the facilities to create prototypes,” he said.

Wladawsky-Berger led a number of company-wide initiatives during his 37 years at IBM such as Linux in Grid Computing and the On Demand Business initiative. He currently advises both IBM and Citigroup on strategy.

“When Dean Wilson contacted me and asked if I would spend a week at the Annenberg School as the Innovator-in- Residence, it would be like the Yankees saying ‘Would you like to come to a fantasy baseball camp?’…Wow, I get to come to the Annenberg School and spend a week here. That is a real treat.”

Wladawsky-Berger discussed his history with IBM, its forays into research and development before and after the Internet changed computing, and he offered advice about becoming more effective in creating collaborative marketing to promote efforts in innovation, research and at conferences – where innovation is shared with colleagues. He said he encouraged a “near-death” IBM to embrace the Internet as a relevant partner to business – at a pre-Internet time when distrust of many new technologies was coupled with a tendency by competitors to appropriate original IBM inventions.

Wladawsky-Berger said any time a new idea was developed and pitched to others, a common question was “Do you have a prototype?” – something he said should be answered in the affirmative at USC Annenberg as well.

"I came across a number of other interesting communications and media projects," Wladawsky-Berger wrote in his most recent blog. "I could sense that an innovation and entrepreneurial culture is beginning to take hold at USC Annenberg. The new ideas they come up with need to be further prototyped in a kind of design studio, so you can actually conduct experiments with real users. A major next step will be to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem around the school, so the ideas they come up with will find their way into the marketplace through both new and existing companies. This won’t be easy, and much work remains to be done, but I came away from my week at USC Annenberg with the feeling that the school is well on its way to making it happen."

Watch the video >>
Read Wladawsky-Berger’s blog about his time at USC Annenberg >>

STUDENT-RUN NEON TOMMY INVESTIGATES SWINE FLU DEATHS IN LA COUNTY

Neon Tommy, the student-run online news source based at USC Annenberg, released a Nov. 5 investigative article about swine flu deaths in Los Angeles County that unearthed a host of information about the illness and its victims.

Neon Tommy, which launched in February and already has a staff of about 50 reporters and 25 editors, obtained 44 local death records that listed swine flu as the cause of death.

"Neon Tommy analyzed the death records and interviewed family members, public health officials and doctors to see what the dozens of deaths suggest about the patterns of the illness and who remains most at risk," the article stated. "In several cases, the families we spoke with said they did not know their relatives had died of swine flu until we told them. In these cases, county officials said the diagnoses had been made after doctors filled out the death certificates, and that it is not the county's responsibility to notify family members. Nearly half of the death records do not list swine flu as a cause of death."

A map of Los Angeles County swine flu fatalities and profiles pieces written by student journalists on swine flu victims accompany the article. Print Journalism undergraduate and main article author Callie Schweitzer said the project put a face on the virus.

"Instead of looking at these people as numbers as much of the media have, we looked at them for who they were as people," Schweitzer said. "Everyone has a story, and we were lucky to tell these ones. There's something about all of these people that you can relate to — be it their age, interests, profession, family life, the list goes on. If that doesn't make you think about protecting yourself or your loved ones from the virus, I don't know what will."

Neon Tommy focuses on covering untold stories and areas around Los Angeles. All USC Annenberg students are welcome to contribute. "I am excited to see so much discussion about the article in the comment section and on other websites and blogs," Schweitzer said. "Although we used L.A. County as our case study, these messages ring true everywhere, and I hope people will read the story and send it on to friends and relatives. This story is an example of the future of journalism. When people say this profession is a dying breed, I hope we can point them to this story and show them how we held public officials accountable, put a human face on a global issue and embraced multimedia — all while holding true to journalistic standards. This experience has shown me that anything is possible."

Read the article >>
View a map of Los Angeles County swine flu fatalities >>
Listen to Schweitzer on KCRW (29:19 mark) >>
Read an LA Weekly article featuring Neon Tommy's coverage >>

RECENT ALUMNI'S TIZIANO PROJECT AWARDED GRANT TO TEACH JOURNALISM IN IRAQ

The Tiziano Project, a nonprofit organization staffed and directed by five USC Annenberg alumni or students, was awarded a $25,000 grant from Chase Community Giving that will be used to establish a three-month journalism training program for youth in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan.

The Tiziano Project provides training in journalism and multimedia technology to help residents of conflict zones document their experiences and develop skills to help them pursue careers in journalism or at nonprofit organizations. More than 2,000 people supported the project in the first round of Chase Trust’s online contest to help fund grassroots organizations in the United States. The contest recognized the 100 most popular charities out of more than 500,000 nonprofits that registered on Facebook.

“We were overwhelmed by the amount of people who advocated for our organization among larger, more well-known organizations,” said Jonathan Vidar (M.A. Communication Management '06), interim executive director and director of Near East Operations for The Tiziano Project. “We are humbled that our mission to empower youth in underreported areas around the world spoke to so many.”

Vidar met Tiziano Project founder and president Andrew McGregor (M.A. Print Journalism '09) in a spring 2007 photojournalism class at USC Annenberg, where they discussed the vision of teaching journalism and creating jobs in war-torn regions. By that summer they were in Kigali, Rwanda to educate talented and dedicated locals to produce content for Western news agencies.

Other Annenberg current or past students working with the Tiziano Project include director of technology Chris Mendez (Communication Management '11), director of operations for East Africa Thomas Rippe (M.A. Print Journalism '07), and multimedia and videography specialist and mentor David Torstenson (B.A. Broadcast Journalism '03). Journalism professors K.C. Cole and Michael Parks are mentors.

McGregor said he started The Tiziano Project because he thought it was immoral to have undocumented mass murder occur in the world at the same time technological advances have produced Web sites such as YouTube that are easy for anybody with a video camera and Internet access to use.

"I thought that if the mainstream press was unable to cover the plight of people in these situations, then perhaps the people suffering could cover it themselves if they were provided with the tools and training necessary to create and distribute their own stories."

Vidar said he has been amazed at how receptive the people in other countries have been to being trained as journalists.

"Dave, Chris and I went to Iraq in the summer of 2008 and brainstormed ideas for students to cover stories," Vidar said. "When the first class came around, the students came up with a list three times longer than the one we came up with that was way better than ours. It's their culture. They've lived it all their lives. We're just helping them tell their own story."

This summer in Iraq, The Tiziano Project will send four multimedia journalism specialists to train a select group of students in photography, new media and videography and will be regularly producing online news packages about the development and culture of the area. The program will build off of a three-week training workshop completed in Sulaymaniyah in 2008.

Visit the Tiziano Project Web site >>

TRISIGHT GIVES PR STUDENTS GIFT OF EXPERIENCE

When a group of industrious students began an in-house public relations firm at USC Annenberg more than 30 years ago, little did they realize they were creating a sensation that would be helping others decades later as the re-envisioned and re-named TriSight Communications.

Now working exclusively with non-profit and small business clients to plan and implement the usual lineup of PR necessities – branding and logos, outreach and marketing, plus meeting other media relations needs – TriSight prepares to enter its eighth year serving its clients and offering undergraduate and graduate students alike the chance to do real public relations work.

“Over the past several years, we have gained a city-wide and university-wide reputation for doing effective work,” said Public Relations professor Jennifer Floto, who advises the 50-strong student staff. “The students on these accounts learn everything from event planning to media relations. In addition, they have an opportunity to work up to a leadership role, learning valuable management skills such as project planning, budgeting, hiring and firing as well.”

One of this year’s co-presidents, Chaiti Sen (Strategic Public Relations ’10), said the most rewarding aspect of the work was that it allowed her to get involved with real-time clients and cases while in school, working with a broad range of clients, students and faculty.

“The Strategic PR faculty, especially Jenn Floto, provides a strong support structure for TriSight,” said Sen, who is currently doing PR work in India. “The faculty is our bridge to the external world – they spread the word about our work and our successes to their professional networks and within the Annenberg community…[Floto] provides counsel in areas in which the students or the E-Board lack expertise and is the common link between the E-Boards that change every year, hence her guidance is invaluable in maintaining continuity.”

Floto, who is well known for her work in promoting such iconic brands as Verizon, Barbie and Lipitor, is also well positioned to assist the present and future leadership and staff of TriSight, she said, but she also had high praise for the current E-Board.

“Marissa Borjon (Strategic Public Relations ’10) and Chaiti Sen have elevated TriSight to new levels,” Floto said. “Their superior creative and management skills have allowed participating students to work on renaming an organization; gaining targeted media coverage for a celebrity client; helping USC initiatives such as the Intersections/South Los Angeles Reporting Project (and) increased visibility among important target audiences. And, they’ve created a new sense of esprit de corps, ensuring that students enjoy the work as well.”

One of these students, Daniel Harju (Strategic Public Relations ’11), came to Annenberg and TriSight by way of his native Sweden, where he worked as a professional journalist.

“I am hoping next year to work with a non-profit or a community organization based here in Los Angeles,” said Harju, who also expressed his desire to run for a position on next year’s executive board and to advocate teaching not only journalism to high school students – which the TriSight-named, multimedia-based client Intersections does – but public relations as well. “When you think about it, at USC we’re kind of privileged, but we’re surrounded by poverty. It’s good to give something back. And public relations is such a wide field. We could also be teaching PR…in after-school programs for disenfranchised kids (through an organization). Those are the kind of clients which for me would be a great experience to work with.”

Harju also suggested that some of TriSight’s future focus include more external communications – in other words, practicing ‘pitching’ – in addition to attracting more community-based projects such as Intersections, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and Annenberg’s own News21.

Sen said that in the case of an organization needing some PR for a nominal fee – or even pro bono – the E-Board would contact the client directly, ascertain the scope and viability of the collaboration, and organize a client team. Currently, there are several potential clients knocking on TriSight’s door, but Floto said that the firm is swamped and only three or four clients per year are allowed.

“Truth be told, we’re now turning down work because the students simply can’t take on the number of clients who seek our help,” Floto said, echoing a happy “embarrassment of riches” also recognized by Sen and Harju. “They hold intensive meetings in which they evaluate which clients will give them the widest range of experience. We wish we could help everyone who comes to us!”

But as TriSight’s board gathered this past week for a PR “boot camp” of workshops to discuss the upcoming year’s strategies and which clients to pick, it appeared that another semester, another year, and perhaps another decade of successful PR was forthcoming – even for those moving on with their newly acquired skills to other fields.

“I take a consultative approach to all problems and try to understand the core of the problem before leading to the solutions,” Sen said. “All of these are invaluable skill sets in any industry or profession.”

Borjon, Sen's co-president, worked with PR "guru" Howard Bragman and also mentioned specific help from the faculty as instrumental in her development as a PR professional while at USC.

"The advice from Jennifer Floto and Jerry Swerling is incredibly invaluable," Borjon said. "Jenn is constantly challenging me, and my peers, to do my best on every assignment, project and task in TriSight...TriSight has impacted my career in PR because I am able to apply what I learn in my courses and apply it to real-world PR projects. We like to think of TriSight as the real-world application to some of the course material that professors teach at Annenberg."

CCLP ESSAY PUBLISHED IN SHRIVER REPORT REVEALS GENDER BIAS IN MEDIA

Fellows from the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy (CCLP) have co-authored an essay in a report released by award-winning broadcast journalist, author and California First Lady 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 were 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 responded to one of the greatest social transformations of our time.”

The Shriver Report features the essay Sexy Socialization: Today’s media and the next generation of women, authored by Cinny Kennard, CCLP senior fellow and an award-winning journalist and media executive, Stacy Smith, Ph.D., communication professor, CCLP faculty fellow and an award-winning scholar and author, and Amy Granados, CCLP research fellow and USC Annenberg do ctoral student.

“Whether looking at animated films approved for general audiences, R-rated blockbusters, or innovative video games, girls and women often appear as eye candy,” they write. “These ever-present idealized portrayals may be inescapable for female viewers, whether they are 8 or 18 years of age. Of equal concern is what boys and young men might be learning about girls and women and how to relate to them. All this will inform the future workplaces of America.”

The impact of these portrayals may affect girls’ “perceptions of self-worth,” “thoughts and feelings about their bodies” and how they “construct their identities virtually in the public sphere.”

The CCLP fellows identify possible ways to address these issues. They write “The main hope lies on females working behind the scenes across media platforms in production, distribution, and exhibition. Research demonstrates that when women direct films, write/produce TV shows, or even cover the news, the way in which females are presented changes dramatically.”

A Woman’s Nation will share its findings with the nation, Congress and President Barack Obama, who signed an Executive Order last year to establish a Council to coordinate the federal government's efforts to address the needs of women and girls.

"For the first time in our nation's history, women represent half of all workers and are becoming the primary breadwinners in more families than ever before," Kennard said. "The shift is generating a transformation in the American family and this report outlines the changes and the impact and potential impact on society."

"Despite these shifts, our essay in The Shriver Report substantiates that the media still often overlook portrayals of girls and women," Smith said. "Females appear less frequently than males across many media outlets, and are routinely shown in a hypersexualized light."

“We are delighted to have joined with Maria Shriver and the Center for American Progress on this project which is providing an important examination of the status of American women as we move into the 21st century,” said Geoffrey Cowan, USC University Professor and director of the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy whose parents, Lou and Polly Cowan, participated in the development of the 1963 Shriver Report produced by Sargent Shriver for the Kennedy administration. “The exceptional work done by our research team will help illuminate and perhaps lead to systemic changes in one important area: the ways in which the media is influencing the lives of girls and women.”

Download the report >>

GROSS TO BECOME USC ANNENBERG'S THIRD PRESIDENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION

School of Communication director Larry Gross was elected president of the International Communication Association for the 2011-2012 term, making him the third USC Annenberg faculty member to head the ICA. Additionally, communication professor Kwan Min Lee was named vice chair/future chair of the ICA's Communication and Technology Division (2 years as vice chair and 2 years as chair). Gross' and Lee's duties at USC Annenberg are not affected by the election.

Communication professors Peter Monge and Margaret McLaughlin were presidents of the ICA from 1997 to 1998 and from 1990 to 1991, respectively.

"As a member of the ICA for nearly 40 years, I am proud of its accomplishments and in particular of its serious commitment in recent years to supporting and engaging with communication scholars who pursue various paths, with scholarship that crosses many disciplines and epistemological perspectives, and with scholars and scholarship from many parts of the world," Gross said in his presidential candidate statement. "As president, I hope to take ICA to new levels in addressing these challenges, for both existing and future members of the association."

Said Lee: "I am humbled by the strong support from my colleagues in the Communication and Technology (CAT) Division. CAT is the second largest, and most rapidly growing division in ICA with more than 800 current members. It is an honor for me to be selected to lead the division in the next four years among the three strong candidates. Put together, these election results vividly show the strong national and international reputation of USC Annenberg and its faculty members."

Other communication professors involved or recently involved in leadership roles with the ICA include Janet Fulk, who is vice chair of the Organizational Communication Division; Sandra Ball-Rokeach, who is an ICA Fellow and recently served as Chair of the Mass Communication Division; and Michael Cody, who is editor of the ICA's flagship Journal of Communication. Monge and Gross are among only seven ICA members who are elected Fellows, won the Aubrey Fisher Mentorship Award and have been elected president.

"I hope to help sustain ICA's previous levels of excellence, expanding opportunities for public involvement, respecting and incorporating multiple vantage points and moving the organization towards a fuller engagement with the emerging internationalized digital era," Gross said.

ICA is an academic association for scholars interested in the study, teaching and application of all aspects of human and mediated communication. ICA began more than 50 years ago as a small association of U.S. researchers and is now a truly international association with more than 4,200 members in 80 countries. Since 2003, ICA has been officially associated with the United Nations as a non-governmental association (NGO).

"USC Annenberg has a long history of leadership in our field’s leading organizations such as the ICA, the National Communication Association and the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication," Lee said. "ICA is undoubtedly the most important academic association in the field of communication. Professor Gross has been a dedicated leader for our field and played many important roles in shaping the direction of the field. The results of this election clearly reflect our field’s deep appreciation of his leadership and continuing support for his vision."

Visit the International Communication Association Web site >>
Read Gross' Presidential Candidate Statement >>

STUDENTS PONDER FUTURES DURING CAREERS IN ENTERTAINMENT DAY

The 4th annual Careers in Entertainment Day took place recently at USC Annenberg, which welcomed back seven alumni who spoke to students about career opportunities.

About 175 graduate and undergraduate students chose two of seven seminars to attend, and had the opportunity to meet face-to-face with industry professionals. Seminars focused on subjects such as talent agencies, entertainment marketing and publicity. Students took advantage of the expertise of the professionals by speaking to them personally and networking during the seminars and luncheon.

“Careers in Entertainment Day offers Annenberg students the opportunity to interact with established professionals in small seminars and the opportunity for candid discussions about the skills needed to be successful in the dynamic, rapidly changing entertainment field,” said Suzanne Alcantara, associate director of career development at USC Annenberg.

Alcantara said USC Annenberg students have “access to Hollywood and the entertainment industry in their backyard. Students have the opportunity to intern with major studios and productions houses, as well as with local news and digital media. High-level alumni in the industry are eager and willing to come back to campus and mentor current Annenberg students,” she added.

Speakers included: Jae Kim, senior director of original programming, BET; Kelly Kahl, senior executive vice president, CBS Primetime; Kristen Keen, account manager, Sony Pictures Imageworks Interactive; Owen Ward, vice president, Theatrical Marketing, Lionsgate; Gena Davis, executive director, Global Brands, Fox Entertainment Group; John Singh, owner/principal, JS Communications LLC, former publicity executive for Lucasfilm, Disney and Fandango; Elizabeth Newman, agent, Creative Artists Agency.

“It is really smart to take advantage of this opportunity,” Keen told students. “I think you have an advantage being from Annenberg.”

She and other speakers gave students advice as to how to break into the industry, saying obtaining meaningful internships is one of the most important steps they can take while still in school.

Newman encouraged students to become engaged and interested in their potential future profession, and stressed the importance of networking. Newman gave every student in her workshop information on her company and internship opportunities with them. She also handed out a suggested reading list with important entertainment articles and books.

“Annenberg is unique because we have many adjunct instructors here who are also working in the industry, allowing them to bring real-life current issues to the classroom,” said Tim Burgess, director of career development at USC Annenberg.

The event was sponsored by Annenberg Career Development and Annenberg's Office of Alumni Relations.

View photos from the event >>

DEAN WILSON PRESENTS "INNOVATION IN GLOBAL PUBLIC DIPLOMACY" TO TAIWAN’S MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Dean Ernest J. Wilson III delivered a presentation to Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei on Oct. 29. Below is the text from his speech:

Innovations in Global Public Diplomacy: The Implications for Foreign Policy and National Security
For those interested in the evolution of the practice and the profession of public diplomacy, we have arrived at an interesting moment in its history, a moment of innovation and adaptation. I wish to point to two trends in this global evolution, and then underscore several challenges they pose to the future of the field. One trend occurs at the global level, where several universal conditions are worth noting. The second trend is unfolding within the United States with the advent of the administration of President Barack Obama, which manifests some of the global trends but also presents unique elements worth noting.*

Global Trends in Public Diplomacy
The three trends I identify below are of relatively recent occurrence, and have not always been a part of the long history of the field. First, prime ministers, presidents and other high level government leaders across a wide variety of states increasingly have come to recognize that public diplomacy (PD) is a useful element of statecraft, along with traditional elements like war fighting, standard diplomacy or the exercise of economic leverage. No longer restricted to states like France or the Nordic nations in the global North, senior government officials around the world believe that they can advance their national interests through the judicious use of PD.

Second, over the past several years many governments’ leaders have actually acted on this recognition by allocating money and manpower to design, organize and implement PD. They have created new directorates within their ministries of foreign affairs as well as entirely new free standing agencies, staffing them with senior officials and allocating government funds to support them.

These observations flow from my work as a member of the team at the Center on Public Diplomacy and a lecturer in the Master of Public Diplomacy degree program at the University of Southern California, and recent conversations in India, China, Taiwan. I also served on the Presidential Transition Team of President Obama, with responsibilities in the area of public diplomacy.

For example, in June I met with a senior government official in India whose public diplomacy department has a fascinating portfolio that includes informing domestic audiences of the importance of India’s international PD, reaching out to its increasingly powerful diaspora, and using its popular film culture to leverage national interests. Similar departments have been created in Canada, Germany and other nations. The MPD program at USC Annenberg is attracting a growing number of students from around the world, including mid-career professionals, who come seeking the most relevant individual skills and the 'best practices' for their organizations back home. Canada and Germany have created and funded separate units for PD, as have Mexico and Brazil. The People's Republic of China is also beefing up the organizational and budgetary capacities of its PD agencies. USC Annenberg has been invited by several states in the Gulf to offer customized courses on strategic communications and public diplomacy.

Third, a wide variety of non-governmental interest groups are learning the language of “public diplomacy.” Business associations, civic groups and human rights movements are increasingly incorporating PD language and tactics into their relations with like-minded groups around the world (this is also true for public units below the national levels, as cities and states vie for greater visibility and appeal in a globalizing world.) Non-governmental groups are also using the language of PD to try to influence their own governments to pursue policies in the international arena that support their own values and views of what is important.

PD Trends in the Obama Administration
Some of these same trends are visible in Washington, but to varying degrees and influenced by other trends that are unique to a superpower and unique to American culture. For example, one can see the global trend toward more dialogue with civil society groups in Obama’s greater reliance on two-way conversation with non-governmental organizations (and with governments) than in the preceding administration of George W. Bush. President Obama’s speech to the Muslim world delivered in Cairo is one example.

This administration’s visible movement toward greater diplomacy, whether public or private, is running into the imperatives and expectations of a dominant super power which possesses unparalleled military and intelligence assets. From the Middle East to Europe, from trade to terrorism, the still young administration is trying to calibrate its use of military power and diplomacy, its balance of hard power and soft. The current Secretary of State and her immediate team are on record in favor of reaching beyond traditional government parameters to engage women’s organizations and local self-help bodies, and her senior policy advisor in the Policy Planning office (Anne-Marie Slaughter) has written persuasively in Foreign Affairs and other outlets aboutthe need to engage all segments of society in a ‘global network’ of mutually beneficial ties in order to modernize foreign policy – not just governments but companies, NGOs and knowledge centers. But for some problems like terrorism, and some nations like Afghanistan and Pakistan, PD’s appeal and utility is limited.

But most importantly, and most obviously, America’s reliance on more public diplomacy has an obvious asset in the person of President Obama. As the first American president with the heritage of rising from a despised minority, he has judiciously but consistently called on his minority status – and his experience living abroad in a Muslim society – as an important basis for his global appeal to people in other socially-difficult conditions around the world, going over the heads of their governments to claim unique understanding and sympathy for the excluded and the impoverished. Translating this personal charisma into sustainable policies and organizational reforms will be more challenging, which leads me to the final section on the remaining challenges confronting all those who are interested in institutionalizing and expanding the reach and impact of public diplomacy.

Remaining Global Challenges in the Design and Conduct of Public Diplomacy
Despite the impressive spread of public diplomacy as an important instrument to achieve one’s international purposes, critical challenges remain. Let me identify challenges which are internal to PD, external, technological and political.

Internal challenges. Within the domain of public diplomacy, how should governments (and significant NGOs) combine the multiple constituent elements of PD into one organic whole so they are mutually reinforcing and not pulling in different directions toward chaos and failure? (cf Nicholas J. Cull on this issue) PD consists of the pursuit of quite distinct purposes that employ quite different instruments. International broadcasting, citizen exchanges, cultural diplomacy and policy promotion are used to achieve different goals, and governments confuse them at the risk of weakening the impact of all. The daily briefing from the president’s office, and the attendant ‘strategic communication’ message imposed across all government agencies should not try to achieve purposes of exchanges which take a generation to bear fruit.

External challenges. How should government leaders find the correct balance between its soft power instruments of conversation and persuasion on the one hand, and the hard power instruments of armies and coercion on the other? All governments by definition have armies and police forces, and they sometimes use threats and coercion to achieve their international purposes. What individuals in a country, and what institutions, have the breadth of understanding necessary to design ‘smart power’ through the integration of the ingredients of ‘hard power’ and ‘soft power’? Public diplomacy and soft power are not ends in themselves; they should be seen as ingredients of 'smart power.'

Technological challenges. What is one to make of the new communications and information technologies like the Internet and its equally-radical modern updates, known as social media? NGOs from health organizations to terrorist cells are better at deploying these assets than governments, and these technological changes have proved profoundly disruptive to government’s plans to conduct 'public diplomacy.' The tension between access and control has proved unsettling, and will remain so for some time.

Political challenges – who really cares about public diplomacy? In a world where other instruments of state power have influential lobbies, who stands up for PD? International trade has its powerful trade associations and lobbyists. The military establishment is powerful everywhere, whether current and retired generals or arms makers and sellers. Will domestic coalitions emerge that learn to press government consistently and insistently to do more PD? And how will governments respond – by heeding calls for more PD from civil society groups, or will they try to co-opt or crush them? Do NGOs run the risk of becoming mere tools of state power? Will government PD agencies become the captive of the loudest PD advocate?

These challenges are not open to easy or immediate resolution. But for those who care about the long term health of global international affairs, they do constitute the next steps in enhancing the design and implementation of global and national public diplomacy. Meeting these four challenges requires hard work, immediately, to start reforming the institutions and training the PD experts of tomorrow. Creating the public diplomacy field of the future is an important task for all of us.

PR VETERAN HAROLD BURSON TELLS STUDENTS TO FOSTER AN “INSATIABLE CURIOSITY”

Dean Ernest J. Wilson and the Annenberg School had the honor of hosting Harold Burson, industry veteran and founder of one of the world’s largest global public relations and communications firms, Burson-Marstellar. Named by PRWeek as "the century's most influential PR figure," Burson drew from his decades of experience to offer Annenberg’s future practitioners a view of what lies ahead and advice to ensure professional success.

After a few words from Dean Wilson, during which he described Burson as a “pantheon of greatness” in the public relations industry, Jerry Swerling, director of PR Studies and the USC Annenberg Strategic Communication and Public Relations Center, gave Burson a proper introduction fit for the legend that he is. Noting many of Burson’s myriad achievements as a “legend and mentor to the entire profession,” Swerling suggested, “For all of Harold’s accomplishments, there is one that impresses me the most: in an industry where people come and go… where today’s rising star is tomorrow’s victim, Harold his been a steady and constant force. That kind of steadfast loyalty to his agency, clients, and his field—that is a loyalty everyone should aspire to emulate.”

To this statement and before launching his discussion on the current state of the industry, Burson cheekily replied, “The reason I’ve been in the same job since 1946, basically, is because nobody has offered me another one.”

And through his long and successful career, Burson has had the unique opportunity to observe and experience a dynamic industry that is constantly evolving, both with technology and shifting business practices. Most recently, Burson has seen a new industry model unfold for public relations as it continues to be integrated into high-level policy decisions.

“At no time in my career has the importance of public relations and communications been so great, in as far as the people managing large institutions, as it has today,” Burson explained, citing close relationships between CEOs and PR practitioners at the core of this development.

This other significant development, of course, and one that Burson described as “to some substantial degree generational,” is the preeminence of the Internet, an entity to which he warned against assigning too much power: “The Internet, regardless of how powerful it is, is still one of a continuum of news disseminating vehicles, and we must remember that no advance in communications dissemination has replaced any of the previous methods.”

Burson suggested that the significant battle for public relations practitioners with regard to the internet is with advertisers, vying for the job of driving this vehicle of dissemination.

“There is a big turf war going on between firms like ours in PR and advertising agencies over who is going to be the vendor and purveyor, or the middle person, between those who want messages disseminated and those who receive those messages.”

In order for PR practitioners to win that battle, Burson recommended honing two skills that he considers crucial to success in the field, and they are as simple as reading and writing—staying “in the know” and being able to craft a clear and persuasive message.

“The basic skill to be a good public relations or communications specialist is an ability to write,” affirmed Burson, advising that institutions such as Annenberg remain steadfast in their concentration on making exceptional writers out of their students and, as Swerling suggested, foster an “insatiable curiosity” about the world around them.

Speaking initially of the risk he took in expanding Burson-Marstellar internationally, Burson attributed a great deal of his professional success to his “ability to recognize opportunities and know what to do about them,” a sharp instinct that he harbored with the guidance of mentors.

“I have been very fortunate in my life to have a series of mentors who took an interest in me and really taught me a great deal,” acknowledged Burson. “Again that’s another trait I think you’ll find in most successful people – someone in that person’s life that meant a great deal to them.”

Burson also had an intimate conversation with 22 students, both graduate and undergraduate, where his personal and professional anecdotes served as the basis for insightful lessons and advice for those entering the public relations industry.

Describing what he called “one of the most dramatic manifestations of PR at work,” Burson lead by recounting a personal favor he did for the president of the University of Mississippi, his alma mater, to remove the Confederate flags from the football stadium and from the game day festivities. As these symbols had previously tarnished the image of the university, especially for prospective African American athletes, Burson was able to leverage support from the football coach, who requested that the university and fans refrain from displaying the flag. After two games, Burson explained, the flags were gone, demonstrating the power of persuasion that public relations practitioners retain.

“If you have the right leverage to get someone to do something, public opinion can change rapidly overnight, even on a deep-seeded issue.”

From managing a crisis situation to the extension of the traditional “relationship marketing” in the realm of social media, Burson and students discussed communications strategies and challenges in both the past and current PR atmospheres.

After a lively conversation, Burson left the students with one final piece of advice that they could not hear too often—start networking now.

“But you can’t build a network just by knowing people – you have to really relate to them. And the more people you know in the more places the more likely you are to be successful.”

Watch video of Burson's presentation >>

STACY SMITH WINS USC PARENTS ASSOCIATION TEACHING AND MENTORING AWARD

Communication professor Stacy Smith was one of four professors awarded the USC Parents Association Teaching and Mentoring Award, which honors faculty members who have inspired students to achieve both inside and outside of the classroom. The award — and the $1,000 honorarium that comes with it — is given to professors selected by USC parents and students.

USC parents Marilou and Mark Hamill wrote in their nomination of Stacy, “She has such passion for her classes that it ignites the student’s enthusiasm."

Additional nominators Patricia and Harry Schned said, "Our daughter looks forward to attending this class. [Stacy] makes the students interested in both the subject matter and her research on media effects on children."

Their daughter Jessica agreed.

"Her ability to relate to students inside the classroom is phenomenal. She encouraged me to speak out in class and taught me to never be afraid to challenge the subject matter because new opinions are always necessary in research," she wrote.

Smith was flattered to accept the honor.

"I find that the classroom is one of the most intellectually invigorating arenas on campus," she said. "I am constantly inspired by our undergraduate students and in awe of their curiosity, motivation and hunger for knowledge. As such, I was thrilled simply to be nominated for this award."

The four professors were recognized on Oct. 22 at a USC Parents Association reception. The other three recipients of the award were Steve Lamy, Brian Rathbun and Julia Plotts.

IMPACT NEWSMAGAZINE GOES GLOBAL

Distributor Global Broadcasting has picked up USC Annenberg's award-wining television newsmagazine Impact to run in several countries throughout Europe.

“It’s a wonderful notch on our students’ belts to say that they are part of something that is distributed not only in Southern California, but in Europe,” said Impact executive producer and advisor Dan Birman.

The series explores issues and stories in and around Los Angeles, and wherever students travel during their time at Annenberg. Recent episodes have included a diverse collection such as stories featuring L.A.'s architecture, bee keeping, street musicians and the Los Angeles Unified School District's music program. Dig a little deeper and find hard-hitting stories about the environment, a tragic story about an Iraqi war veteran, animals and many other subjects that demonstrate the passions of the show's alumni.

This year's team of five senior producers are supervising producer Kim Daniels, second-year students Adrianna Weingold and Jennifer Aidoo, and first-year students Sam Osborn and Sharis Delgadillo — all graduate students in journalism. The senior producing team oversees the work of the producers who research, shoot, write and edit their long form stories.

Now in its 47th show, Impact has received several College Television awards in the documentary and newsmagazine categories from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

“Journalism has changed,” Birman said, adding that while daily newscasts remain important, the trend toward the newsmagazine format to tell deeper stories is growing. “Annenberg students get to be a part of it.”

In addition to the new European broadcasts, Impact is carried by some 50 cable franchises in California and Nevada. Those associated with Impact say they are excited to see it journey to Europe.

Impact is an important venue for students to take on in-depth reporting for television,” Birman said. “Some students will produce feature stories, some will produce stories with serious themes. What’s cool though is that it’s a television series that has been recognized as an important voice within Southern California-orientated programming.”

Visit the Impact Web site >>

LA TIMES FEATURES PROFESSOR HENRY JENKINS AND HIS THOUGHTS ON “TRANSMEDIA STORYTELLING AND “SPREADABLE MEDIA”

The Los Angeles Times featured provost's professor of communication, journalism and cinematic arts Henry Jenkins in a Nov. 22 article that explores his expertise in "transmedia storytelling," "spreadable media" and new media literacy.

"Audiences are especially active in what Jenkins dubs 'transmedia' storytelling, in which a story spans multiple media in a coordinated way," according to the article. "In the traditional Hollywood model, the novelization, video game or website simply restates the characters or the plot of a film or a TV show. In transmedia stories, the creators of the entertainment will use those extensions to, say, fill in the gaps in a narrative or look at events from a minor character's point of view — all of which combine into one big story that audiences have to piece together. 'It appeals to the hunting-and-gathering impulses of fans,' Jenkins says."

"I spent the first 20 years of my academic life at MIT in the midst of the digital revolution, and I thought it would be fascinating to spend the second 20 years in Hollywood, observing the other side of the equation," Jenkins told the Times.

Read the article >>

PROVOST’S VISITING SCHOLAR BERGER DISCUSSES COMPLEXITIES OF REPORTING ON AFRICA

“Wanted: Better 2010 journalism about African countries.”

Guy Berger, Visiting Scholar of the Provost and head of the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa, set out to provide an ample view of the barriers and challenges facing both journalists in Africa with his presentation “New Africa, New Journalism” during the Nov. 3 Journalism Director’s Forum. His presentation also highlights international journalists’ attempt to capture the complexities of an oft stereotyped continent.

Approaching the issue of African journalism largely within the frame of the upcoming 2010 World Cup, Berger identified a unique opportunity in terms of both public diplomacy and journalism to counteract a number of the negative images and stereotypes of Africa — but also suggested the risk of replacing these stereotypes with new ones.

Berger attributes a number of these stereotypes to the traditional media coverage of Africa, coverage that not only has focused on the negative images of the hunger, AIDS, poverty and imagined savagery of sub-Saharan Africa, but also has broadly ignored the extreme diversity of nations and cultures that make up the continent. Beyond this, Berger noted that most journalists carry their own “cultural baggage” that tends to cloud their view and inform their depiction of Africa and its people. However, there is some basis to this trend.

Noting the commonality of a history based on colonialism, racism, slavery, and marginalization between African nations, Berger contended, “Afro-negativism doesn’t fall from the sky. It’s not without foundation; but on the other hand, I think it’s only half of the story.”

And much like the opportunity the 2008 Beijing Olympics offered China, the 2010 World Cup allows South Africa to tell the other half of this story. Berger noted not only an opportunity but an active effort on the part of South Africa to engage in a national rebranding through a reinvention of journalism that has the power to extend to the African continent as a whole.

With the expectation of 18,000 journalists covering the World Cup stories in South Africa, the nation has not only been investing in the infrastructure to host the most-widely broadcast sports event in the world, but also in developing and projecting a positive image of the country.

And with the support of his university, Berger has too been making an investment. Through the annual Highway Africa conference, the largest annual gathering of African journalists dedicated to exploring new journalistic platforms and models, as well as educating his own students, Berger has worked to build South Africa’s journalistic resources and enhancing its equipment to tell its own story.

Training student journalists to blog and report on the Cup, not only in terms of sports coverage but with additional attention to business, political and even food angles, Berger envisions an image of South Africa that goes beyond the traditional views of a pan-African stereotype of the “noble savage.”

With these efforts, Berger hopes that African reporters will uncover the nuance of capturing an essence of Africa that is neither homogenized nor generalized, evading the double-edged sword of conquering old stereotypes by constructing others, and representing the rich cultural diversity by which African nations should ideally be defined.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND THE COMMUNITY WEB: MOTHERLODE OF IDEAS

The following is a selection from a blog entry originally posted on USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy Web site. It was written by David Westphal, an Executive-in -Residence at USC Annenberg and a Senior Fellow at the School’s Center on Communication Leadership & Policy.

One of them is fueled by a $2 million investment and embarked on a plan to establish community news network in 50 American cities. Another is a south Los Angeles site serving a neighborhood just 1 square mile in geography. One has been in the community news business for six years; another is just now starting to monetize his site.

These were among the news sites represented at [December’s] "Entrepreneurship and the Community Web" conference at the University of Southern California. To my knowledge, anyway, it was the first time a large group of community news sites had ever gotten together in California. It was obviously overdue. The participants fed off each other's zest for their work, and left Los Angeles with a productive list of good ideas.

One of the best takeaways came from afternoon keynoter Jonathan Weber, who runs NewWest in Missoula, Mont. Weber has become known for the series of conferences he runs each year on topics his news site targets — issues like development, water, the environment. What was new to me is that he's been able to use these conferences to offer continuing-education credits in a variety of professions that require them — planning, real estate, engineering, etc. That helps strengthen the base of people willing to pay the $300 or so registration fees — and gives him a conference profit margin of about 50 percent.

You couldn't help but be impressed — I couldn't anyway — by the range of ideas and approaches and geographies of the 15 site owners who told their stories on Friday. That's true, of course, despite the fact that very few are doing little more than breaking even on their operations, if that. But reading past the details, I'd be shocked if we don't see continued rapid expansion of the community news-site space. And as veteran Barry Parr of Coastsider said, if you wait till the business-model problem is solved, it's too late.

Read the complete blog posting >>
View photos from the event >>

 

ALUMNA THOMPSON AUTHORS TWO BOOKS ON AFRICAN AMERICAN YOUTH
Dr. Gail L. Thompson (B.A. Journalism ’80) has published two new books, A Brighter Day: How Parents Can Help African American Youth and The Power of One: How You Can Help or Harm African American Students. The books address effective methods for helping African American youth navigate through school and through life. Thompson is currently a professor at the Claremont Graduate University. She has also served as a reviewer for the Educational Broadcasting Network, Millmark Education, Houghton Mifflin, and several academic journals.

KUNKEL TESTIFIES BEFORE CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE
Dale Kunkel (Ph.D. Communication Theory and Research ’84) recently testified at a California State Senate hearing about the influence of food and beverage marketing on children. He is currently a professor at the University of Arizona, specializing in the influence of media on children. Previously, he was a Congressional Science Fellow who has also testified as an expert witness on children's media topics at numerous hearings before the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Federal Communications Commission.

WIN TAKES ON NEW ROLE IN MUMBAI
Hanna Ingber Win (M.A. Print Journalism ’08) is moving to India to be GlobalPost’s correspondent in Mumbai. Hanna says she will help GlobalPost “build their audience in India.” She was formerly the World Editor for The Huffington Post as well as one of Annenberg’s News21 fellows in the summer of 2008.

Deke Houlgate (B.A. Journalism ’54) recently published his novel, Blood on the Wall.

Leo Wolinsky (B.A. Journalism ’72) has been named editor of Daily Variety. He will oversee the print versions of the Daily Variety. and its sibling New York publication Daily Variety Gotham. Wolinsky previously worked at the Los Angeles Times for 31 years and held top positions including executive editor and managing editor.

Clara Germani (B.A. Journalism ’78) received this year’s honorable mention for The Dart Society Mimi Award, the nation’s only journalism prize that recognizes exceptional work by a newspaper editor. Germani, a senior editor at The Christian Science Monitor weekly magazine, was nominated by three reporters for her work with them on war-related projects in Liberia, Central Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan. Germani has worked as a correspondent in Russia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Gary Goodman (Ph.D. Speech Communication ’78) is the #1 ranked Customer Satisfaction Speaker on Google, and #3 on Bing. He is also the #1 Telemarketing Speaker on BOTH Google and Bing. Goodman is a sought-after sales speaker, negotiation speaker, and attorney. He is a frequent TV and radio commentator and the best-selling author of 12 books and more than 1,700 articles that appear in 25,000 publications. President of Customersatisfaction.com, Goodman conducts seminars and speaks at convention programs around the world. His new audio program is Nightingale-Conant's Crystal Clear Communication: How to Explain Anything Clearly in Speech & Writing.

Eric Bailey (M.A. Journalism ’82) accepted a position as communications director of Consumer Attorneys of California after twenty-six years at the Los Angeles Times.

Claudia Eller (B.A. Print Journalism ’82) became a player-coach for the Company Town section of the Los Angeles Times. Eller came to the Los Angeles Times in 1993 as a film editor in Calendar and moved to Business about two years later as a columnist and a movie reporter. Previously, she spent four years at Variety and three years at the Hollywood Reporter.

Shelley D. Lane (M.A. ’81, Ph.D. ’82 Communication Arts and Sciences) is Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. Lane also represents the School of Arts and Humanities as a member of the UT Dallas Council on Undergraduate Education, Core Curriculum Committee, and University Scholarship Committee, in addition to supervising the undergraduate advisors and meeting with students.

Steve Travers (B.A. Communication ’83) published two books: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly San Francisco 49ers and Pigskin Warriors.

Dan Birman’s (M.A. Broadcast Journalism ’85) documentary film Brace for Impact was featured on TLC in January. The film chronicled the landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River, featuring stunning graphics and compelling first-person accounts of the captain, passengers, and air traffic controllers. Also critical in the making of the documentary film were Associate Producer David Eisenberg (M.A. Broadcast Journalism ’06), Production Coordinator Adriana Padilla (M.A. Broadcast Journalism ’08), and researcher Megan Chao (M.A. Broadcast Journalism ’08). Birman has also produced seven other documentary films featured on Discovery’s TLC, National Geographic, and the Discovery Health Channel. In addition, he has been teaching journalism courses in nonfiction television writing and production at USC Annenberg since 2001. His affiliations include the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the National Emmy Awards Committee and the Educational Programs and Services Committee.

Priss Benbow (M.A. Communication Management ’87) had case studies of two clients profiled in Marketing Public Relations, a college marketing textbook published by Prentice Hall.

Guy R. Gruppie (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’88) was recently named one of the top lawyers in the San Gabriel Valley in a vote of peers and judges conducted by Pasadena Magazine. The Arcadia resident is a Senior Partner in Murchison & Cumming, LLP.

Geoffrey Baum (M.A. Broadcast Journalism ’89) was re-elected to the Pasadena City College Board of Trustees on Nov. 3. An incumbent Pasadena City College Trustee from Area 1, Baum also sits on the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. He is currently Managing Director at USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership and.

Anh Do (B.A. Print Journalism/English ’89) was appointed managing editor of LA.Spot.Us, the community funded journalism project recently launched in Southern California through collaboration with USC Annenberg's School of Journalism. A second-generation journalist, Do has worked as vice president of Nguoi Viet Daily News, the largest Vietnamese-language newspaper in the U.S., where she founded "Nguoi Viet 2," a weekly English section for younger readers. She started her career at the Dallas Morning News and the Seattle Times before writing for the Orange County Register for 12 years, including a column on Asian affairs. Do’s work has been honored by Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and the Asian American Journalists Association, and has earned her the University of Washington's DART award for excellence in reporting on victims of violence and Freedom Newspapers’ Sweepstakes Award. On campus, she has taught news reporting and news writing at USC Annenberg.

Joe Jacuzzi (B.A. Journalism ’90) is the Vice President of Product and Brand Communications, Beverages for PepsiCo Inc. Previously, he held several positions at General Motors including Executive Director of Communications in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East; Executive Director of Europe Product and Brand Communications; and Director of Communications in the United Kingdom.

Manuel De La Rosa (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’91) was elected to the National Association of Hispanic Journalists National Board. As part of Region 5, he represents Texas and the surrounding states. De La Rosa currently covers stories outside of Corpus Christi, TX and enjoys visiting the small communities as the Area 3 News Reporter for KIII-TV. Previously, he served as NAHJ Vice-President and Region Representative for California and Texas for five years.

Beth Lipton (B.A. Print Journalism ’92) is the food editor at a women’s magazine called All You. She just published her first cookbook called You Made That Dessert?

Christopher Welch (B.A. Print Journalism ’92) is Corporate Communications Manager at Glowpoint, Inc., Director, Marketing and Public Relations at Interfaith Furnishings, and songwriter at Candlework Productions. He performed at the New Jersey State Fair in 2008 and 2009, and has been featured in print and on television. Previously, he worked as a producer on shows for Fred Friendly Seminars and the White House.

Christina Jaracz (B.A. Public Relations ’96) is the Regional Development Director at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.

Marco Gonzales (M.A. Communication Management ’00) was recently promoted to Senior Director of Corporate Communications at Herbalife International. Gonzales joined Herbalife in July of 2005 as director of corporate communications for Latin markets (U.S., Mexico, Central, and South America), responsible for all corporate communications and media relations. Prior to that, he worked as national publicity manager for Univision Music Group. In his new role, Gonzales will manage all publicity efforts for both the general and Latino markets in the US and Mexico, and will be responsible for all publicity efforts for the Herbalife Family Foundation. He will also develop public relations campaigns that increase publicity efforts for product, brand, HFF and corporate with U.S. general market media. Gonzales will continue managing all Spanish language executive communications and act as the official Spanish interpreter for Chairman & CEO Michael Johnson. He will also continue serving as the official Spanish-speaking spokesperson for the company in the U.S. Hispanic market.

Sarah Huoh (B.A. Public Relations ’00) was promoted to Director, Global Communications, at Edwards Lifesciences, the global leader in the science of heart valves, which is based in Irvine, California. Huoh leads external communications efforts on behalf of the company's heart valve therapy, transcatheter heart valve and cardiac surgery systems businesses. She also recently completed two semesters of serving as an adjunct professor at USC Annenberg, teaching JOUR 463: Research and Analysis.

Miguel Fletcher (B.A. Communication ’03) accepted a position as Dean of Discipline for Bishop Alemany High School. Fletcher was a former USC Football and Track and Field athlete.

Julie Watts (B.A./M.A. Broadcast Journalism ’03) recently hosted an episode of Designing Spaces on TLC. Also, she recently received the Advanced Media Emmy Award for her multimedia piece titled “Surviving Kenya: Through His Lens.” In addition, she was the recipient of two Telly Awards for a documentary she shot, produced and edited for PBS (KVIE) titled “From San Francisco To Sierre Leone.” She is currently a reporter and meteorologist at KPIX in San Francisco.

Arash Markazi (B.A. Print Journalism ’04) is working for ESPN, covering sports and popular culture in and around Los Angeles. For Markazi, ESPN will be a new venture from working for Sports Illustrated. His work received much recognition when he was named by the Los Angeles Times as one of the “Faces to Watch” in 2006.

Connie Yuan (M.A. Communication ’01, Ph.D. Communication ’04) won the 2009 Dennis Gouran Research Award in Group Communication from the National Communication Association for the best published article of the year. "Connective and Communal Transactive Memory Systems," published in Communication Research is an article about empirical studies of teams from around the globe. The research assessed how individuals in teams make choices about when to seek and share information with teammates through direct communication with each other versus using shared databases for acquiring or sharing information. The research was based in an integration of three theories: social influence, public goods and transactive memory. Yuan now serves on the faculty of Cornell University.

Lisa Daftari (M.A. Broadcast Journalism ’06) was featured on Fox News speaking about developments in Iran. She has also appeared on Voice of America to discuss her documentary film on the Marze Por Gohar Party. As an award-winning journalist with expertise in the Middle East and counter-terrorism, her freelance work has also appeared on CBS, NBC, PBS and in the Washington Post.

Nicole Johnson (B.A. Communication ’07) has been crowned Miss California 2010. She had competed once before in the Miss California USA competition in 2007 and was the 1st runner-up. Johnson will move on to compete at the 59th Miss USA pageant. It will be held at the Theatre for the Performing Arts in the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino located in Las Vegas on April 18, 2010.

Melanie Herschorn (M.A. Broadcast Journalism ’08) is the host of All Things Considered and a reporter at WITF 89.5 FM, the NPR affiliate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She also hosts WITF Presents, a classical music show on Sunday nights.

Amy Kaufman (B.A. Print Journalism ’08) joined the Entertainment team at the Los Angeles Times as a staff writer. Amy interned in the L.A. Times’ Calendar section during her time at Annenberg and is a current contributor to its Show Tracker television blog. She will report breaking news for "Calendar" and "Company Town," and she also will write feature stories and analysis pieces. Amy formerly worked for the Daily Beast, The Wrap and the Los Angeles bureau of The Wall Street Journal. She has written for Los Angeles Magazine and the Santa Monica Daily Press.

Kristin Sanderson (M.A. Communication Management ’08) had a baby, Toby Scott Sanderson, on December 3, 2009. Kristin is Director of Alumni Relations at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development.

Marcia Dawkins (Ph.D. Communication ’09) is the recipient of the 2009 Outstanding Dissertation Award given jointly by the African-American Communication and Culture Division and Black Caucus of the National Communication Association. Dawkins' study titled, "Impurely Raced/Purely Erased: Toward a Rhetorical Theory of (Bi)Racial Passing,” was directed by Dr. Randall Lake. Dawkins is Assistant Professor, Department of Human Communication Studies, California State University, Fullerton.

Kaitlin Funaro (M.A. Broadcast Journalism ’09) recently accepted a position with the BBC, helping to produce business segments for Radio 4 shows, including Today.

Lia Hardin (M.A. Print Journalism ’09) accepted the position of producer for the morning newscast at KRCR-TV in Redding, Calif. At Annenberg, Lia produced, reported and worked as ATVN’s graduate associate. Her broadcast training and internship with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer gave her advanced broadcast-Web skills she used to help develop ATVN’s online breaking news format. In addition to producing a massive morning newscast, Lia has been asked to play a major role in the redesign of her station’s website.

Paolo Sigismondi (Ph.D. Communication ’09) published an article in the latest issue of the Chinese Journal of Communication (Vol. 2, No. 3, Nov. 2009), entitled "Hollywood piracy in China: An accidental case of US public diplomacy in the globalization age?" The article identifies the phenomenon of Hollywood piracy in China as an accidental, yet relevant public diplomacy occurrence thriving outside the control of central governments, as it amplifies the distribution of US popular culture artifacts in this increasingly relevant area of the world. Sigismondi has more than a decade of work experience in global media, having held executive positions in transnational media and entertainment conglomerates. His research interests include the phenomena of globalization in the media and entertainment landscape and their impact on societies worldwide.

Jessica Wedemeyer (B.A. Broadcast Journalism ’09) is working for People as an Events Coordinator. While at USC, she served as host of CU@USC, Trojan Vision Television’s nightly show.