USC Annenberg News

Dean Wilson writes op-ed on Google, China and U.S. foreign policy

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:12:54 GMT

USC Annenberg Dean Ernest J. Wilson III (pictured) wrote a Jan. 31 Huffington Post op-ed about the foreign policy implications of the recent news that Google may quit the Chinese market because of a dispute over cyber attacks.

Dean said he was reading about the situation during a recent trip to Dubai in the local Economic Times and some of the articles wondered if the Google - US. - China fracas would open up space for India to attract more foreign investment from the West as a safer haven than China, and whether Indian firms could jump into the market. He wondered whether this weakened or strengthened the hand of the Obama administration toward China.

"For Americans, this is also an important story, but one that most U.S. commentators have missed," he wrote. "Most of the American press reports focused on Google's impact on markets and politics inside China. But they ignored what may be the biggest really important story, which is Google's impact on the future of U.S. international relations in the coming decades."

Huffington Post op-ed

Center for Health Reporting partners with Sun-Star to publish "Houses of Blues" series

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:54:13 GMT

By Jonathan Arkin
Student Writer

The Jan. 29 issue of the Merced Sun-Star featured a front-page series on the foreclosure climate in northern California, reported by the USC Annenberg-based California HealthCare Foundation Center for Health Reporting headed by journalism professor Michael Parks.

Parks (pictured, right), who is the founding director of the grant-funded Center, said the Sun-Star series "Houses of Blues" — focusing on how the recession is impacting issues of mental health — fit the greater mandate of the Foundation, which seeks to improve the way health care is delivered and financed in California by promoting innovations in care and broader access to information.

“This is one of the most important experiments underway in philanthropically financed journalism,” said Parks, who will chair the Center’s advisory board. “They are going to be really good examples of storytelling that put into a larger framework problems that need attention, that need resolution. We hope that they cause a public discussion that builds toward solutions … and that readers will be mobilized to care more about their neighbors, communities, and take up these problems as they talk across their back fence.”

The Center, which was developed at Annenberg in partnership with the Foundation, has delighted Parks with its ability to mobilize communities to enact social change.

“Our model is to work with newspapers and eventually public broadcasting, radio stations, potentially with local Web sites, to do projects about issues in health policy,” Parks said. “We highlight problems but we also work to report on possible solutions to those problems by getting a public discussion underway with the goal of increasing civic engagement on those issues.”

The Sun-Star series, which is slated to appear over a course of two days, serves as an example of how the Center’s expertise was shared with a smaller-market paper.

“We also try to do build capacity by having our reporters and editors work with local reporters,” Parks said. “Our staff has experience working with big projects. Sometimes a staff at a small paper may not have that experience.”

Ultimately, Parks said, the Center’s model shared an altruistic motive with journalism.

“This is the journalism of empowerment,” Parks said. “We believe that by making the people smarter about the problems and solutions, that they can take action. And we can’t make them solve the problems. We’re journalists. We need to focus on things that need to be fixed, that people care about, to show what solutions can be found.

"I’ve had a question since I’ve been here on how journalism schools at research universities such as USC can improve the practice of journalism, to improve the performance of society, and thus this is an important experiment. It is applied research, and it’s exactly what a top research university should be doing."

California HealthCare Foundation
"Houses of Blues" series

USC Annenberg announces sixth NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:26:16 GMT

The USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today that applications are now being accepted for the sixth annual Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater. The institute, which will take place May 17-27, 2010, is an 11-day intensive workshop in theater and musical theater for critics, reporters, editors, and broadcast and online producers from all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

Institute applications are due March 11, 2010.

“It is often in theater that we experience humanity's deepest concerns,” said Geneva Overholser, director of USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism. “Consequently, theater offers journalists a way of learning about what matters and of seeing how human beings discover and handle conflict. Good theater coverage that pays attention to artists, past and present and from every culture is the obligation of a democratic society.”

Based in Los Angeles, the fellowship provides a total immersion experience that includes attending as many as ten performances or rehearsals. Participants will meet theater professionals ranging from directors and administrators of L.A.’s primary theater companies to critics of national stature, who will engage them individually for writing instruction and exercises. Professional sessions addressing changes in the media industry will be offered and special attention will be paid to building multimedia storytelling skills. No specialized knowledge of theater is required. Staff journalists and freelancers who work in print, radio, TV or online media -- and whose main subject is the arts, culture or entertainment -- are welcome to apply.

“Both the field of journalism and the arts community are facing unprecedented change. It has never been more important for arts journalists to step out of their everyday grind and be in discussion with one another and other professionals about the core job they have to do and the ways to make use of new technologies and skills to do it even better,” said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman. “The NEA is proud to be working with the USC Annenberg School to make this possible. We need strong arts journalists in order to have a truly vibrant arts community.”

Sasha Anawalt , director of USC Annenberg’s M.A. degree program in Specialized Journalism (The Arts), will direct the NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Theater and Musical Theater.

“Nearly 125 journalists have gone through the NEA Theater Institute over the past five years and many of its alums have taken leadership roles in what’s looking to be a steady arts journalism comeback,” Anawalt said. “The 2010 Institute examines the conditions affecting the arts and their coverage. We look forward to helping re-imagine and rebuild the field through multimedia storytelling and excellent writing standards.”

The Theater and Musical Theater Institute at USC Annenberg is one of three NEA Arts Journalism Institutes, along with the Institute in Classical Music and Opera at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York and the Institute for Dance Criticism at the American Dance Festival in Durham, N.C. In 2009 an International Institute in the Visual Arts at American University in Washington, D.C., also was created. Funded by a multimillion-dollar NEA initiative, these institutes offer intensive training for arts reporters and their editors. Most costs are covered by the Institute, including travel to and from Los Angeles, hotel, transportation within the city and most meals.

The NEA was a major sponsor of the first-ever National Summit on Arts Journalism held at USC Annenberg in October 2009. A partnership of the four NEA Arts Journalism Institutes and the National Arts Journalism Program, the summit explored new ideas for arts coverage and journalism business models in front of a live and virtual audience of nearly 20,000 people.

For more information, visit http://annenberg.usc.edu/nea

About the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts – both new and established – bringing the arts to all Americans, and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the largest national funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities and military bases. For more information, visit www.arts.gov.

LA Times and student reporters begin partnership on Homicide Report

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:03:19 GMT

The Los Angeles Times and USC Annenberg’s online news source Neon Tommy have begun a collaboration that enables student reporters to produce stories for The Times’ Homicide Report blog.

The partnership offers students crime-reporting experience at one of the most widely circulated newspapers in the country while The Times receives content for a Homicide Report that tells personal stories of the hundreds of people killed in Los Angeles County every year. The first student article, written by Andrew Khouri (M.A. Print Journalism ’11), was published Jan. 27 and chronicled the life and killing of 24-year-old Charles Montgomery. It is The Times’ goal to give readers a complete picture of who dies in homicides, where, and why – thus conveying both the personal story and the statistical story with greater accuracy and providing a forum for readers to remember victims and discuss violence.

“This is a wonderful partnership in so many ways,” said Geneva Overholser, director of the School of Journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, where Neon Tommy is based. “Our students get the experience of working with a distinguished newspaper and also of seeing their work widely read. The Los Angeles Times is able to extend its reach on this critically important project, even as their resources are under pressure. And we’re advancing the visibility of collaboration, a concept of growing importance in journalism.”

The Homicide Report strives to augment basic facts about murdered Angelenos with additional reporting about those cases, as well as other subjects relevant to homicides.

“Since the first days of the Homicide Report in 2007, our goal has been to tell two stories about violent death in Los Angeles – the overall statistical portrayal of who dies, how they are killed and where, as well as the individual portraits of the human beings behind those numbers,” said David Lauter, assistant managing editor at The Times. “Collaborating with USC will allow us to tell far more of those human stories and, at the same time, help develop the next generation of L.A. journalists.”

Student reporters at Neon Tommy, an online digital news Web site launched in February, 2009, to fill a void in local and national news, said they are thrilled about working with The Times. With a core of 25 student editors, the site publishes content from about 75 USC Annenberg students.

“To have the opportunity to share your work with that many people is amazing,” Khouri said. “It's great to get feedback from working journalists at The Times, which adds to what we already receive in the classroom. We are definitely excited about it and feel we can produce a lot of great work.”

Alan Mittelstaedt , managing editor of Annenberg Digital News, which publishes Neon Tommy, said Khouri’s recent article in The Times is a prime example of how this partnership can work.

“It was as good of a story as a 15-year veteran at a newspaper could have done,” Mittelstaedt said.

Mittelstaedt will assign journalism students to profile the lives and deaths of victims after the weekly coroner's report is delivered. During the last three years, that has amounted to 2,603 reported murders in Los Angeles County.

“In three years, there’s almost no way to cover all of the personal stories,” said LA Times deputy Metro editor Megan Garvey, who oversees The Times’ California section interactive projects. “Even to provide minimal information on every homicide is a substantial endeavor. In working with student journalists, there is an opportunity to cover killings that wouldn’t have otherwise appeared in the news, and in a lot of ways those become the most significant stories when they all are compiled."

Mittelstaedt said the Neon Tommy reporters are hungry for real-world experiences.

“This collaboration gives them a chance to put their best work on a crucial topic before a huge audience,” he said. “It's all part of the revolution in media and journalism education. The days when students' top-notch work lands on a professor's desk, and stays there, are over."

Neon Tommy deputy editor Kevin Douglas Grant (M.A. Online Journalism ’11) said the opportunity to be published by The Times will be helpful for students looking for careers in journalism.

“The partnership is an honor,” Grant said. “To partner with a beacon such as The Times is amazing, especially after only one year of Neon Tommy being established. The reporters on this team definitely deserve it. This connection confirms we have a lot of professionals at different media organizations working toward a common goal of covering the stories of Los Angeles.”

Jan. 27 story by Andrew Khouri
Homicide Report
Homicide Report FAQ
LA Times announcement

USC Conference Explores Science as a Language of Diplomacy

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:35:14 GMT

Scientists will join diplomats and policy experts on the campus of the University of Southern California on Friday, February 5, to discuss the role of their profession in international relations--past, present and future.

“In scientific endeavors, as in no other field, nations set aside political differences and collaborate to advance the best interests of their citizens,” said Philip Seib, director of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy (CPD) at the Annenberg School, which hosts the “Science Diplomacy and the Prevention of Conflict“ conference.

Even during the tense times of the Cold War, Seib noted, American scientists worked with their Soviet counterparts, motivated by the belief that they could help states work out their differences. Currently, discussions between scientists provide a backchannel between unfriendly states, such as North Korea and the United States, or India and China.

Globally, a wide range of international issues, including climate change, drought, communicable diseases and energy development have complex technical elements that demand high-level international scientific collaboration.

The conference will feature presentations on a wide range of such interactions, according to Yannis C. Yortsos, dean of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, who will chair a panel on “Science, Development, and Security.”

The United States Institute of Peace and its Center of Innovation for Science, Technology and Peacebuilding is co-sponsoring the conference.

Vaughan Turekian, director of the Center for Science Diplomacy, American Association for the Advancement of Science, will be the keynote speaker at a dinner on February 4.

In addition, the Partnership for a Secure America will discuss their science diplomacy initiative and next steps as they launch an expanded effort to engage the legislative and executive branches in better integration of science into diplomacy.

The conference is open to the public, but seating is limited. Please rsvp to cpdevent@usc.edu.

For the complete conference agenda and list of speakers, please click here.

About the USC Center on Public Diplomacy

The USC Center on Public Diplomacy was established in 2003 as a partnership between the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism and the School of International Relations at the University of Southern California. The Center is a joint research, analysis and professional training organization dedicated to furthering the study and practice of global public diplomacy. USC received the 2007 Benjamin Franklin Award for Public Diplomacy in recognition of the university's teaching, training and research in public diplomacy. The award was one of four inaugural awards from the U.S. State Department.

LA Times trailblazers share new interactive projects at USC Annenberg

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:01:21 GMT

By Jonathan Arkin
Student Writer

The Jan. 26 Journalism Director’s Forum at USC Annenberg brought editors and producers from L.A.’s largest daily newspaper to discuss “What’s innovative at the Los Angeles Times.”

Hosted by School of Journalism director Geneva Overholser, the talk (full video here) featured a panel with Times journalists Ben Welsh, its chief Web data journalist; Megan Garvey, the assistant metro editor; and Daniel Gaines, managing editor of operations at latimes.com – who also serves as an adjunct journalism professor at Annenberg.

“I hope this is sort of what we continue to do,” said Garvey, who along with Welsh and others began work two years ago on the widely viewed “War Dead” project, an online, interactive compendium of fallen U.S. soldiers from the Los Angeles area. “I was a traditional print journalist, but I embraced (the new technology) when we did the War Dead project. The newsroom embraced it…I think that there is an acknowledgement that this work is of basic use to them.”

The panelists discussed the expanding role of the Times’ online presence further, including individual and group social media ventures plus experiments with Kindle, “multimedia jukeboxes,” Google maps and blogging, and offered reassurance that, amidst current layoffs decimating most legacy media newsrooms – including their own – it was more productive to look forward with optimism.

“Though it’s a relentless, ongoing trauma,” said Gaines of the changes facing the Times and other major newspapers, “you can’t look at what’s being taken away, but what’s being given to you."

These tools, Gaines added, included the myriad possibilities inherent in the Times’ blogs and mapping projects that are currently attracting a large audience of viewers eager to comment and contribute to those innovative new efforts – which in turn create the need for online curating and moderating, thereby perpetuating a new journalistic life for the paper’s future.

“I found it very heartening to hear Megan say that her colleagues are beginning to focus less on what they’re losing and more on what they’re starting to gain,” Overholser said. “This is a crucial change, when you can shift from looking backward in lament to looking forward with a sense of hope and enthusiasm. Then you’ve made the essential change…that you can really make a difference in journalism. The point is, the whole problem with legacy media organizations is that they worry about what they’re losing rather than exalting over what they’re gaining.”

Happy 10th Anniversary, Norman Lear Center

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:16:00 GMT

The USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism wishes its Norman Lear Center a happy 10th anniversary.

From Martin Kaplan, Norman Lear Center director and holder of the Norman Lear Chair in Entertainment: "Traditional 10th Anniversary presents are tin, aluminum and diamonds. (Who comes up with this stuff?) But please, no gifts - except a share of your attention. The Lear Center was launched a decade ago when Norman Lear made an extraordinary gift to the USC Annenberg School to support a unique center of research and innovation. As you'll see here, the Lear Center's work is more relevant than ever. And as you'll see here, we've been on quite a roll. Thanks for letting us keep you posted during the decade ahead."

More from Kaplan: "The Norman Lear Center gets its name from a man whose belief in the power of entertainment to degrade and to do good, to demagogue and to uplift, to be both gloriously silly and urgently relevant, made him an industry pioneer. It was launched 10 years ago when he made an extraordinary gift to the USC Annenberg School to support a unique center of research and innovation. Its mission is to study and shape the impact of media and entertainment on society, and - immodestly - to illuminate and repair the world. In case you've ever wondered what the place I work actually does, that's the answer. Thank you, Mr. Lear, not only for making it possible, but also for having the vision to know that it was necessary."

Thank You, Norman Lear
10 of the Lear Center's Favorite Things

Government financial support of news media continues steep decline, adding to challenges in news business

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:12:57 GMT

WASHINGTON — Government financial support that has bolstered this country's commercial news business since its colonial days is in sharp decline and is likely to fall further, according to a report released today by USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy. Because these cutbacks are occurring at the height of the digital revolution, they will have an especially powerful impact on a weakened news industry.

Public Policy and Funding the News is a unique effort to begin examining how involved the government, at all levels, has been in subsidizing news throughout American history to foster an informed citizenry; and what this support has meant for publishers, journalists and news consumers. The report analyzes some of the financial tools that government has used to support the press over the years — from postal rate discounts and tax breaks to public notices and government advertising. The report documents cutbacks across a range of sectors and presents a framework for the consideration of policy options to place the industry on more secure financial footing.

"It is a common myth that the commercial press in the United States is independent of governmental funding support," says University Professor and director of the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) Geoffrey Cowan (pictured, top left), who co-authored the report. "There has never been a time in U.S. history when government dollars were not helping to undergird the news business to ensure that healthy journalism is sustained across the country."

"Certainly, the U.S. has never supported news-gathering the way some European and Asian countries have," said David Westphal (top right) USC Annenberg executive-in-residence, report co-author, CCLP senior fellow and former Washington Editor for McClatchy. "The point here is that it's time all of us, outside and inside the industry, realize that tax dollars support the American news business, and those dollars, which throughout our history have been critical in keeping the news media alive, are now shrinking quickly."

The late 1960s marked a high-water mark of government support for the news business. The postal service was subsidizing about 75 percent of the mailing costs for newspapers and magazines, roughly $2 billion in today's dollars. Today, however, publishers' mailing discounts for their printed news products are down to 11 percent or $288 million.

Paid public notices, government-required announcements that give citizens information about important activities, have also been lucrative for newspaper publishers, providing hundreds of millions in revenue to publications ranging from local dailies and weeklies to national newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal.

For example, in a four-week study, researchers found that the government was responsible for the most purchases, by column inches, of ad space in the Journal. And the newspaper wants more: in 2009 they battled Virginia-area papers in a move to get their regional edition certified to print local legal notices.

This public notice income is especially important to weekly and other community newspapers, accounting, in 2000, for 5 to 10 percent of all revenue. But now, proposals are pending in 40 states to allow agencies to shift publication to the Web.

Tax breaks given to news publishers are likely to decline because many are tied to expenditures on paper and ink and cash-strapped states are seeking to find new sources of revenue. Federal and state tax laws forgive more than $900 million annually for newspapers and news magazines, with most of the money coming at the state level.

Some additional excerpts:

In 2009, federal, state and local governments spent well over $1 billion to support commercial news publishers
The cumulative effect of reducing these government subsidies is not the primary problem afflicting the news business today. At most, government assistance has dropped by a few billion while newspapers alone have lost more than $20 billion in revenue in the last three years. Yet, government support represents a critical element of economic survival
Policymakers cannot afford to be mere spectators while these changes flash by. American government does not work very well if citizens do not have a reliable supply of news and information. What is playing out in the news business is a vital national interest

Public Policy and Funding the News offers a framework to pursue options currently under consideration, including 1) Allowing newspapers to become non-profits; 2) Tax credits for taxpayers who subscribe to newspapers; 3) Expanded federal investment in digital technology and infrastructure, including broadband access; 4) An antitrust law timeout to allow publishers to form a common strategy; and 5)Significant new government funding for public radio and public television.

As policymakers debate these and other proposals, Cowan and Westphal offer the following principles:

First and foremost, do no harm. A cycle of powerful innovation is under way.To the extent possible, government should avoid retarding the emergence of new models of newsgathering.
Second, the government should help promote innovation, as it did when the Department of Defense funded the research that created the Internet or when NASA funded the creation of satellites that made cable TV and direct radio and TV possible.
Third, for commercial media, government-supported mechanisms that are content-neutral – such as copyright protections, postal subsidies and taxes – are preferable to those that call upon the government to fund specific news outlets, publications or programs.

"We live in an era of profound technological change that threatens many forms of news media. We do not favor government policies that keep dying media alive. But we do believe government can help to provide support during this period of transition," says Westphal.

A complete copy of the report is available online at www.fundingthenews.org. The Web site also features supplemental research papers on eight specific areas: postal rate subsidies, tax policy, broadband expansion, international broadcasting, government funding of public broadcasting, public notice requirements, copyright laws and antitrust regulations. In addition, the authors have collected an online directory of proposals for government intervention and links to public hearings and other activities on these issues.

About the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy

Based at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, the Center on Communication Leadership and Policy conducts research and organizes courses, programs, seminars and symposia for scholars, students, policymakers and working professionals to prepare future leaders in journalism, communication and other related fields. CCLP focuses its activities in two areas: 1) The Role of Media in Democracy and 2) Communication Leadership. Current projects include: Public Policy and the Future of News; New Models for News; The Constitution and the Press; Media and Political Discourse; Children’s Media and Ethics; Women and Communication Leadership; and Photographic Empowerment.

Associated Press article
New York Times article
More from New York Times
Financial Times (U.K.) article
Nieman Journalism Lab article

Journalism professor Ed Cray sets sights on Grammy Award

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:07:58 GMT

By Catherine Donahoe
Student Writer

Journalism professors often win or are nominated for awards. They have strived for Pulitzer Prizes, Selden Ring Awards and Hearst Journalism Awards for years. But a Grammy Award?

That is what journalism professor Ed Cray hopes to receive Sunday at the 52nd annual Grammy Awards, which start at 8 p.m. Cray and author Bill Nowlin were nominated in the best album notes category for their work on the new Woody Guthrie album, “My Dusty Road.”

“I suspect that I’m the first journalism professor that’s been nominated for such an award,” said Cray, who edited and wrote the notes of about 14,000 words for a 4-CD set of Guthrie songs that were recently unearthed from storage. “It’s a hoot!”

The Guthrie album was also nominated for best historical album. Cray said what makes the project so exciting is the historicity of this event.

“These masters had never been played—they had been in a Brooklyn basement for over 60 years when they were rediscovered,” said Cray, adding that the quality of these records is better than ever.

Cray was contacted by Rounder Records to write liner notes for the album. He wrote notes for the songs while Nowlin focused on the technical notes.

Cray’s interest in folk music began in the 1950s, when he played the music and performed.

“It was part of my life,” he said. “My three biographies I’ve written — on Woody Guthrie, George C. Marshall, and Earl Warren — were all re-telling my own life and times. I’m just trying to understand what happened during my lifetime by using these three figures.”

Annenberg presence felt at new ESPN site

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:32:41 GMT

By Heather Hope
Student Writer

Two of USC Annenberg’s own are writers for the new Los Angeles-based version of ESPN.com.

Undergraduate student Pedro Moura (above left, B.A. Print Journalism ’11) and alumnus Arash Markazi (above right, B.A. Print Journalism ’04) write for ESPNLosAngeles.com, which began in late December and highlights all the top sports news happening in Los Angeles. The site reports on some of the biggest names in sports, including the Dodgers, Lakers and Trojans.

Moura covers Trojan sports teams and blogs more than eight times a day with game scores, players’ injuries and recently some athletes’ reactions to new football coach Lane Kiffin’s hiring. As a sports writer for USC’s Daily Trojan and anchor for Annenberg TV News, he said his new work experience has improved his writing tremendously and gives his stories great exposure.

“My work is being read more than ever, and I get to work with actual ESPN reporters of the highest caliber each day, who critique my writing and give me the best pointers,” Moura said.

Markazi is a regular columnist for the ESPNLosAngeles.com site. He previously wrote for Sports Illustrated after graduating from USC. He said although he felt like he was already at his dream job, he was excited to try something new.

“I never expected to leave my old job, but was eager to be a part of ESPN’s latest project and vision and have found it to be an awesome opportunity for the direction of online media,” he said.

He spent his first two years in New York while with Sports Illustrated. The Sherman Oaks native said he was glad to be back home with an LA-centered publication. Like Moura, Markazi wrote for the Daily Trojan and served as the sports editor. He said he wished he had been involved with ATVN to diversify skills since he co-hosts ESPN’s radio show broadcast on 710AM and also makes television appearances for the network.

He credits Annenberg journalism professors such as Norman Corwin and the late Pulitzer Prize-winning Edwin Guthman with instilling insightful advice on developing great story ideas and acquiring sources.

“I remember being like a sponge in class and taking in all these great lessons from my instructors, who had been where I wanted to be one day,” he said.

Moura said his time at Annenberg has definitely been beneficial to him because of all the connections he has been able to make. He said he got help getting a couple internships during his freshman year, which have led to more opportunities. He said he was able to secure the job with ESPN Los Angeles when a friend who worked there recommended his name to the managing editor because of his extensive Trojan sports coverage. He said the rigorous Annenberg curriculum has prepared him for what to expect in a real news work environment.

“USC student sports journalists get to cover some of the biggest stories in the land on a weekly, even daily basis, which is some of the best training available,” he said.