Our Projects
Hollywood, Health & Society
Hollywood, Health & Society provides entertainment industry professionals with accurate and timely information for storylines on health, safety and national security.
The Media Impact Project
A hub for collecting, developing and sharing approaches for measuring the impact of media, to better understand how media can change knowledge, attitudes and behaviors.
The Walter Cronkite Awards
Honoring outstanding broadcast journalism that empowers citizens and serves as a watchdog for voting rights and election fairness, transparency, accuracy and security.
The Everett M. Rogers Award
Presented since 2007, the Everett M. Rogers Award award honors the late USC Annenberg professor whose Diffusion of Innovations is the second-most cited book in the social sciences.
Image of the Journalist in Pop Culture
Cataloging images of the journalist in pop culture to demonstrate their impact on the public’s perception of newsgatherers.
Ideology & Entertainment
America is more politically polarized now than ever. Does that polarization play out beyond the spectrum of politics? Does the media we watch also reflect a deeply divided nation?
Marty Kaplan Writing Archive
Director Marty Kaplan has been writing a column about media, politics and pop culture, in both print and online, since 2005. Search and read his entire collection here.
Creativity & Collaboration in the Academy
A University-wide program launched in 2010 that spotlighted novel ways that research communities can foster collaboration.
Creativity, Commerce & Culture
Developing innovative ways of discussing the complex artistic, legal and ethical issues facing creative communities in the age of entertainment and digital revolution.
Getting it Right
Historians and journalists are both storytellers: They’re in the business of finding and assessing evidence, analyzing situations and narrating events. How can they work together on “getting it right?”
Grand Intervention
Grand Intervention worked to maximize public input into the design of Grand Park, a new 16-acre civic park on the Grand Avenue corridor in downtown Los Angeles.
Media, Citizens & Democracy
MCD examines the way news and entertainment media affect policy development and public perceptions of democracy, civil liberties and government.
Popular Music Project
Taking pop music seriously as an object of sustained critical inquiry through a mix of research projects, course development, videos, events and artist residencies.
Ready to Share
Ready to Share looks beyond the familiar concept of fashion trends to explore how creativity emerges, circulates and evolves in the fashion industry – and in culture generally.
Warner’s War
The connection between Hollywood and the U.S. political system was never more obvious than in the films Warners Bros. produced before and during World War II.