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A note from Geoffrey Cowan and an update from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
Summer greetings from Martha's Vineyard! I am here reviewing the galleys of Let the People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary, to be published by Norton in January 2016 just before the start of the presidential primary season. In addition to my work at USC and Sunnylands, I have spent the last decade engaged in what I sometimes think of as "time travel" back to the year 1912. The new book describes the dramatic story of TR's four month campaign to seize the Republican Party nomination from William Howard Taft, his friend and handpicked successor. To have any chance of winning, he had to create direct presidential primaries and capture the public imagination for his crusade for popular democracy. While he failed to get the nomination, his campaign forever changed the way we select presidential nominees. The book also reveals the shocking events surrounding TR's decision to prohibit participation by blacks from the Deep South in the Bull Moose Party. With a fresh primary season upon us, and ongoing battles about ways to insure that everyone can vote, the book offers an interesting commentary on events in our own era. We are planning to organize a number of activities around the book's publication and will be sure to keep you posted. Our Center on Communication Leadership & Policy remains actively engaged in policymaking and research on how communication technology intersects with social change. In addition, we welcomed new senior and faculty fellows who are at the forefront of the rapidly evolving media landscape, conducting important research and launching thoughtprovoking projects. In the newsletter below, you will read about these people, projects and activities. Thank you for your involvement with CCLP. We look forward to seeing you soon. Warm regards,
Center on Communication Leadership & Policy A program of the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism
CCLP urges FCC to equip phones with emergency services Isolation from technology increases risk of labor trafficking Reeves releases book about internment of Japanese Americans CCLP & Pacific Council highlight funding for international
August 3, 2015 Combating Boko Haram September 14, 2015 A Tour of U.S. Embassies on Social Networks
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A note from Geoffrey Cowan and an update from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
broadcasting
September 16, 2015
New fellows
Republican presidential candidates forum viewing and discussion
LA Theatre Works honors Geoffrey Cowan Visiting fellow Johnson to publish new book on exotic bird heist
October 5, 2015
Cowan joins effort to increase university partnerships with Mexico
Democratic Transitions: Conversations with World Leaders
CCLP urges FCC to ensure Lifeline phones are equipped with emergency notification services for all Americans
Under the leadership of senior fellow Adam Clayton Powell III and director Geoffrey Cowan, CCLP and Sunnylands convened a series of meetings with researchers, NGOs, industry leaders and policymakers (including FCC commissioners) to explore ways handheld devices can be enhanced for public service purposes, including emergency response, health and civic participation.
Among other outcomes from these meetings, CCLP was urged by key participants to weigh in on the need for the Lifeline service to be enhanced to ensure all phones have access to emergency alerts, including activating FM radio chips that are present in all mobile devices, but have been disabled for various reasons.
March 23, 2015 Senior fellows Narda Zacchino and Matthew Dowd discuss political polarization at a Communication Leadership Roundtable.
Adam, Geoff, Ev Boyle and graduate fellow Brandon Golob prepared and filed a formal comment that is generating significant attention, including coverage by The New York Times, Motherboard (Vice), and Politico Morning Tech. Adam also authored an oped that was published in The Hill newspaper.
On June 18, the FCC voted to proceed with Chairman Tom Wheeler's Lifeline broadband initiative and modernization plan. The order will take months to write, but FCC staff has indicated that language from CCLP's comment will be included.
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Orville Schell Senior Fellow
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A note from Geoffrey Cowan and an update from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
Video credit: Skye Featherstone
Read more on the CCLP blog
Isolation from technology and social networks increases risk of labor trafficking, CCLP study finds CCLP published a groundbreaking study on the role of technology in labor trafficking and exploitation that found technology can be both part of the problem as well as the solution. The report was supported by a grant from Humanity United. Senior research fellow Mark Latonero led a team to the Philippines to conduct field research on technology and labor trafficking. During the trip, a major typhoon hit the island nation and the team was able to conduct realtime research on increased vulnerability in times of crisis and disaster.
Orville Schell coauthored a report calling on international leaders to build on the success of the partnership between Chinese provinces and the state of California in combating climate change. "The latest agreement in November 2014 between the United States and China to reduce carbon emissions will help set a new course in the effort for greater international cooperation on climate change, but states, provinces, and municipalities also have a vital role to play," reads the report, titled A Vital Partnership: California and China Collaborating on Clean Energy and Combating Climate Change.
The report was released by Schell and Geoffrey Cowan, president of the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, on March 4 at an Asia Society event in San Francisco. Gov. Jerry Brown and Nobel laureate and former U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu also participated in the discussion. "In the end if the U.S. and China do come together in a meaningful way to deal with climate change, it is not going to exclusively be between Washington and Beijing," said Schell. "In fact that may be the least important link. Where the rubber will really meet the road is with states and municipalities dealing directly, https://ui.constantcontact.com/visualeditor/visual_editor_preview.jsp?agent.uid=1120878097087&format=html&printFrame=true
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A note from Geoffrey Cowan and an update from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
so that the solution ends up being more of a patchwork, kind of a mosaic, rather than some big grand design where the presidents wave a wand in Washington and Beijing and bring about a solution. I don't think it'll happen that way. But it can happen piece by piece by piece." Schell also authored an oped in The New York Times calling for the United States and China to consider "previously unthinkable options" to restore their relationship.
Read more about Orville Schell
Dana Chinn Faculty Fellow
Download the full report here
The report includes the story of a young woman from the Philippines who was stranded in Malaysia after being misled by a deceptive labor recruiter. Despite having a mobile phone she did not want to call her family and make them worry. While being transported to an unknown destination by her brokers, she was apprehended by police. Interrogated and imprisoned, she hid her phone and called a friend for help. After a month the Philippine government finally intervened. As it turned out, the woman's phone served to connect and disconnect her with unscrupulous recruiters, as well as support. Some findings and recommendations in the report include: Laws and policies should ensure workers have free access to communication technology and social networks. Data analytics can be used to monitor and identify exploitation and trafficking in global supply chains. Online technologies that are useful for maintaining social connectivity are also used to exploit. The divulging of personal information such as cell phone and passport numbers on social media profiles allows illegal recruiters to exploit job seekers. Disaster and humanitarian response technologies represent a new avenue for trafficking intervention. Learn more about the Technology & Trafficking project
Dana Chinn coauthored a report calling on cities and other government jurisdictions to develop detailed criteria and standards to help them efficiently develop their open data initiatives. The report was released by Open Data LA, a project of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.
"Robust, sustainable open data initiatives are essential for increasing government transparency and fostering
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A note from Geoffrey Cowan and an update from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
civic participation," said Chinn.
Read more about Dana Chinn
Reeves exposes ugly truth behind decisions to imprison Japanese Americans during World War II CCLP senior fellow Richard Reeves examines the key causes and consequences of the JapaneseAmerican internment in relocation camps during World War II in his new book, concentrating on a shortsighted military strategy and antiJapanese sentiment following the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.
Richard Reeves discussing his book with Geoffrey Cowan at a USC campus event
"A day that will live in infamy," President Franklin D. Roosevelt said of the attack in asking Congress for a Declaration of War, after which the president himself signed an executive order that moved more than 120,000 Japanese, most of them American citizens, "behind barbed wire and machine gun towers, into concentration camps spread across the most barren and hostile deserts and swamps of the country," said Reeves. "Their only crime: looking like the enemy." Infamy: The Shocking Story of the Japanese American Internment in World War II provides an authoritative account of the incarceration of these American citizens and Japanese immigrants during the war. Men we usually consider heroes FDR, Earl Warren, Edward R. Murrow were in this case villains, but we also learn of many Americans who took great risks to defend the rights of the internees. Reeves wrote the book because he doesn't want that to happen again
Weapons of mass deception: Part one by Vasily Gatov
BOSTON As consumption of mass media has increased dramatically in modern times, outscoring all other human habits in absorbing hours and minutes of life, the idea of "information weaponry" has become a kind of banality. Propaganda, framing, agenda setting, and dozens of other armaments have been recognized since 1921, when Walter Lippmann first described the mechanics of mass media influence over public opinion. He was followed by the "father of public relations," Edward Bernays, who formulated the tools and secrets of the propaganda trade and laid the groundwork for huge tribes of later propagandists. Read more Read Part Two
ADVISORY BOARD
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Mickey Kantor CoChair 5/12
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A note from Geoffrey Cowan and an update from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
"if the nation becomes hysterical about real or imagined threats to national security," he said. "Without knowing too much about it, I always wanted to study the incarceration of innocent JapaneseAmericans in desert concentration camps during World War II. I found that what happened was far worse than I imagined. Fear, racism and raw greed drove Americans to crush thousands of lives, breaking up families and stealing property under the leadership of men as historically revered as President Roosevelt and California's attorney general, Earl Warren. Shamed, the victims of the camps refused to talk about it for decades, even as their sons served in the most decorated American combat unit in history. They do now. It happened here and it could happen again, to Muslims, to Latin Americans. I want to let people who love America and love the Constitution know that that "piece of paper," as described by Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy, was shredded in a wave of national hysteria." At a CCLP event on the USC campus, Reeves discussed his book and said there was no doubt in his mind that "it could happen again, and that there could easily be concentration camps on our southern border." Read more on the CCLP blog
Norman Pearlstine CoChair Ina Coleman John F. Cooke David Fisher Clothilde Hewlett Wendy Luers Gary Pruitt Callie Schweitzer Alden Stoner Amb. Robert H. Tuttle Ernest James Wilson III
SENIOR FELLOWS Adam Clayton Powell III Cinny Kennard Dan Glickman Dan Schnur
CCLP & Pacific Council panel highlights need for U.S. investment in international broadcasting Voice of America director David Ensor called for investment in international broadcasting during an interview with CCLP senior fellow Adam Clayton Powell III at the Pacific Council on International Policy's spring conference, cosponsored by CCLP. Geoffrey Cowan, former VOA director, introduced Ensor and Powell to the more than 200 people from governmental, nonprofit, academic, and private sectors who gathered at the historic and elegant California Club in downtown Los Angeles for the allday conference.
"It seems lately, does it not, that the world is on fire," said Ensor, "and is awash in propaganda. Massively funded voices for undemocratic and violent groups are proliferating in this digital age, and it seems like a lot of good information sometimes is not. Voice of America prevailed in the Cold War as a short wave radio broadcaster providing Soviet systems with reliable information. Could Voice of America be part of the answer this time?"
David Westphal Derek Shearer Geneva Overholser Jeremy Curtin Jessica Yellin Kirk Johnson Kit Rachlis Matthew Dowd Morley Winograd Narda Zacchino Neal Baer Orville Schell Peter Hirshberg
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A note from Geoffrey Cowan and an update from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
Richard Reeves Jessica Yellin
VISITING FELLOWS Florian von Heintze Kirk Johnson Vasily Gatov
CENTER STAFF Ensor played a VOA video report on such propaganda and misinformation distributed by entities and countries like ISIS, Iran, China, and Russia. The video emphasized that VOA reports both sides of every story, whereas stateowned media in these countries often do not. Ensor retired from VOA at the end of May. Various breakout sessions of the conference included panel discussions on such topics as nuclear proliferation, rising tensions in the Balkans, conflict in the South China Sea, government advocacy in the digital age, combating corruption in Latin America, and the situation in Crimea. CCLP faculty fellow Philip Seib spoke on a panel about defeating the Islamic State and combating violent extremism through communications. During the plenary session, CCLP advisory board chair Mickey Kantor debated U.S. trade priorities with Charles Rivkin, Assistant Secretary of the State Department's Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. A major topic of discussion was the proposed TransPacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, which is currently winding its way through Congress. Kantor said that the United States needs to include China in the regional regulatory and investment treaty. Read more on the CCLP blog
Geoffrey Cowan Director, University Professor & Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership Geoffrey Baum Managing Director Susan Crookston Goelz Office Manager Ev Boyle Global Fellow Liz Krane Web & IT Coordinator Justin Chapman Project Fellow
USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
350 S. Grand Ave., #3350 Los Angeles, CA 90071 2133373100 2133373131 (fax) commlead@usc.edu
New CCLP fellows Matthew Dowd, 53, has been named a senior fellow. Dowd served as the chief strategist for George W. Bush's 2004 presidential campaign and currently serves as a political analyst for ABC News.
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A note from Geoffrey Cowan and an update from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
As a CCLP senior fellow, Dowd will focus on "examining what we can do to bridge the political divides today in America involving campaigns, communication, and governing." He will also focus on "creating momentum in the social impact entrepreneur space with emphasis on linking capitalism and social consciousness."
Dowd has worked both sides of the political aisle, but now considers himself an Independent. Dowd's political work includes serving as the chief strategist on two winning reelection efforts for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006 and for President George W. Bush in 2004. His innovative approach on the 2004 and 2000 campaigns led the bipartisan American Association of Political Consultants to name him Strategist of the Year. Dowd currently serves as a special correspondent and analyst for ABC News where he appears on "This Week," "Good Morning America," and "Nightline," and writes a regular column for various publications. Read more on the CCLP blog Vasily Gatov, 49, has been named a visiting fellow. Gatov is a Russian media researcher and author based in Boston. He has more than 28 years of professional experience in domestic and international media.He is currently working on a book tentatively titled Life, Censored, about the reemergence of totalitarian censorship of the Russian media. Based on a series of interviews with politicians, government officials, corporate managers, editors, journalists, lobbyists and political consultants, Gatov's research will attempt to "define the exact logic of the 'new censorship' framework and expose its machinery." Gatov will also focus on various topics in the field of communications and media. "My interests cover the media technology, new business and organizational models of media companies, media effects and the 'digital' specifics of those," said Gatov. Read more on the CCLP blog
LA Theatre Works honors Geoffrey Cowan
Wellknown as a bestselling author, public interest lawyer, academic https://ui.constantcontact.com/visualeditor/visual_editor_preview.jsp?agent.uid=1120878097087&format=html&printFrame=true
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A note from Geoffrey Cowan and an update from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
administrator, government official, distinguished professor, and Emmy Awardwinning producer, CCLP director Geoffrey Cowan is also a notable playwright who was honored by LA Theatre Works to celebrate their decadeslong collaboration.
Geoffrey Cowan being honored at the LA Theatre Works gala Cowan has worked with LA Theatre Works for 25 years on his award winning play Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, which originally premiered as a radio play in 1991 in front of a live audience for national broadcast on NPR and later toured the country in 20078, had a five week run in New York City in 2010, and played to audiences throughout China in 2011 and 2013. The play celebrates the importance of the press, the First Amendment, and an independent judiciary. In New York and China CCLP presented "Top Secret Talks," a series of panel discussions with leading journalists, scholars and policymakers about the contemporary lessons of the Pentagon Papers story. "Geoffrey Cowan has been a significant person in the life of LA Theatre Works since 1991, when I called him to ask a question about a constitutional issue which he answered and then let me know that he had written a play," said Susan Loewenberg, producing director for LA Theatre Works. "That casual remark turned into almost a quarter of a century of fruitful collaboration between Geoff and LATW. Geoff is truly a Renaissance man and we are honored to be honoring him."
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A note from Geoffrey Cowan and an update from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
Cowan with his wife Aileen Adams and LA Mayor Eric Garcetti
Cowritten by Cowan and pioneering journalist and teacher Leroy Aarons, Top Secret is an inside look at the Washington Post's decision to publish a topsecret study documenting the United States' involvement in Vietnam. The subsequent trial tested the parameters of the First Amendment, pitting the public's right to know against the government's claim of secrecy. The epic legal battle between the government and the press went to the nation's highest court and is perhaps the most important Supreme Court case ever on freedom of the press. Read more on the CCLP blog
Johnson authors new book on exotic bird heist CCLP visiting fellow Kirk Johnson's newest book, tentatively titled The Feather Underground: A Tale of Beauty, Obsessions, and the World's Greatest Natural History Crime, will be published by Viking Press. The book tracks the 2009 theft of hundreds of exotic and extinct bird skins from the British Museum of Natural History, and situates the heist within a 150year historical sweep of killing birds for profit, and the role that the Victorian Era feather fashion craze played in birthing the modern conservation movement. The book is currently scheduled for a Spring 2017 publication.
Cowan joins effort to increase university partnerships between California and Mexico Education leaders from Mexico and California have launched an initiative to identify key areas of research collaboration in an ongoing partnership to build sustained, strategic and equal relationships between educational institutions on both sides of the border. https://ui.constantcontact.com/visualeditor/visual_editor_preview.jsp?agent.uid=1120878097087&format=html&printFrame=true
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A note from Geoffrey Cowan and an update from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
University of California president Janet Napolitano and National Autonomous University of Mexico provost Eduardo Bárzana García chaired the inaugural meeting of the UCMexico Initiative Advisory Board in Ensenada in February. The group will reconvene at The Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands in Fall 2015.
Janet Napolitano, Geoffrey Cowan, and Eduardo Bárzana García
During the meeting, scholars and experts met in breakout sessions to discuss education, energy, environment, arts and culture, and public health. Geoffrey Cowan, president of the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, a USC University Professor and director of CCLP, participated in the historic meeting as a member of the advisory board. He said the goal was to identify important scholarly collaborations on which Mexico and the University of California can work together. "California is interdependent in so many ways with Mexico," said Cowan. "Our economies are heavily interdependent, our environment, our coastline, public health, education. These are all common issues we have, so if we can work together we can build both economies and both societies in a more dynamic way. We're going forward with major research collaborations between these countries in areas of mutual interest." The UCMexico Initiative was launched in January 2014 by Napolitano and is led by UC Riverside. Read more on the CCLP blog
Editor: Justin Chapman | Executive Editor: Geoffrey Baum
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A note from Geoffrey Cowan and an update from the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy
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