48 USC Annenberg associate dean Martin Kaplan tells USA Today in a front-page article that talk of values resonates with moderate and independent voters during a presidential election. Voters want to know if candidates "care about somebody like me," Kaplan says in the July 9 story. ALSO: Kaplan weighs in on Michael Moore's new documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 during a July 6 interview on CNN Daybreak. "There have always been documentary makers and they've always had an impact on social issues. But those have been localized social issues rather than attempts to mobilize a nation around a political position." USA Today article» Read the CNN transcript»

A July 10 Associated Press article picked up by several major newspapers lauded journalism professor Ed Cray's Ramblin' Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie . "More than a dozen writers have tried to chronicle the vagabond life of Woody Guthrie, but none have brought him alive quite like Ed Cray," AP reporter John Rogers wrote. Cray conducted extensive research on the influential singer-songwriter that included interviewing friends of the folk hero and analyzing Guthrie's personal notes and letters. Associated Press article»

Senate Commerce Committee chair John McCain and FCC chair Michael Powell cited a report by USC Annenberg's Norman Lear Center in a June 16 letter to the heads of all the broadcast networks. The Lear Center Local News Archive report found that stations aired nearly four times as many political ads as campaign stories during local news broadcasts in the 2002 election. In their letter, McCain and Powell challenged the networks to provide more information on political issues during this election year. "Stories on campaign platforms and in depth coverage of candidate debates truly assist voters in making an educated choice," they wrote. The Lear Center report was also cited on June 2 in House Energy & Commerce Committee testimony by Gloria Tristani, former Federal Communications Commissioner. Read the McCain and Powell letter» Lear Center report»

47 USC Annenberg's Pew Hispanic Center garnered national media coverage with its release of a study showing that Hispanic students drop out of college far more often and receive bachelor's degrees about half as often as white students. The study shows that Hispanics with similar academic backgrounds as whites still graduate college at far lesser rates. "The tragedy is that too few (Latinos) are getting bachelor's degrees," Richard Fry , the author of the report and a senior research associate at the center, tells the Los Angeles Times in a June 24 article. Read the Times article» Pew Hispanic Center Web site» Read the report»

USC Annenberg associate dean and communication professor Thomas Hollihan says Fahrenheit 9-11 , the new politically polarizing film by Michael Moore, could be instrumental in getting more Democrats to the polling booths. "Feeling motivated, to the extent you make that extra effort to vote on your way home from work -- that matters," Hollihan said in a June 11 Los Angeles Times article. Read the article (subscription required)»

In a June 17 interview on KPCC public radio's "Talk of the City," USC Annenberg journalism professor Bryce Nelson took Tribune Co. to task for the recent cutbacks at the Los Angeles Times. "I think the Tribune Company is mistaken if they try to drag the L.A. Times down to a lower level," Nelson said. "What they should be doing is raising their other papers to higher levels." Nelson added that the Tribune Co. will jeopardize long-term quality and long-term profits by going after short-term profit and share value. Also, Crain's Chicago Business interviewed Nelson on June 7 on the possible effect of the Pulitzer Prizes won by the L.A. Times on the quality of the Tribune Company's 13 newspapers. "This shows you can make a great newspaper even better if you want to," Nelson says. "I hope it puts pressure on them to do the same thing at the [Chicago] Tribune ." Listen to the audio» Read the article»

Journalism faculty members Felix Gutierrez , Jay Harris and Diane Winston have been granted tenure at USC Annenberg, USC Provost Lloyd Armstrong Jr. recently announced. Gutierrez specializes in social diversity in the media. He rejoined the USC Annenberg faculty in 2003 after serving as the first executive director of the California Chicano News Media Association and the senior vice president of the Freedom Forum and Newseum. More about Gutierrez» Harris holds the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Journalism and Communication and is the founding director of The Center for the Study of Journalism and Democracy . He joined USC Annenberg in 2002 after serving as publisher of the San Jose Mercury News . More about Harris» Winston holds the Knight Chair in Media and Religion. She has written for several of the nation’s leading newspapers, including the Baltimore Sun and the Dallas Morning News . She is the author of Red-Hot and Righteous: The Urban Religion of the Salvation Army and Faith in the City: Religion and Urban Commercial Culture. More about Winston»

Jay Harris , Wallis Annenberg Chair in Journalism and Democracy and director of the Center for the Study of Journalism and Democracy , was at the forefront of a significant change in the awarding of the Pulitzer Prize for music. Harris headed the Pulitzer board’s decision to broaden the criteria to make musical theater scores, film scores and works containing large elements of improvisation accessible to the award. "The board has been concerned for many years that the full range of excellence in American music was not somehow getting through the process in such a way that it could be properly and appropriately considered," Harris says in a June 1 Boston Globe article. "The changes in the wording are intended to make sure that the full range of excellence can be considered." Read the article