At USC Annenberg, we don’t just cover the news, we make it. “Quoted: USC Annenberg in the News” gathers a selection of the week’s news stories featuring and written by USC Annenberg’s leaders, faculty, staff and others. The stories are listed in chronological order, the most recent story appearing first.
USC Forum Revisits Watts Civil Unrest
The Watts Revisited collaboration and subsequent event at Wallis Annenberg Hall was covered by the L.A. Sentinel. The USC Annenberg Metamorphosis Project, Intersections South L.A. and the Civic Engagement and Journalism Initiative held the 50th Anniversary of the 1965 Watts Riots and invited L.A. journalists and community organizations to discuss the importance of media coverage surrounding civil unrest.
The forum examined how anniversary coverage can be an opportunity to investigate lingering structural problems while highlighting positive social change in the impacted area. It focused on the impact that media coverage of the aftermath of civil unrest has on communities and solutions for causes of future unrest.
Freida Pinto, Patricia Arquette Push for Women’s Rights at Milken Conference
Director of the USC Annenberg School of Journalism Willow Bay was quoted by Variety when she hosted the Milken Institute’s Global Conference panel titled “What Would You Do to Make the World Better for Women and Girls? A Conversation and Call to Action.” The conversation highlighted how gender parity can only be achieved if men demand it alongside women and that improving education and health for women benefits entire communities.
“Making a difference improving the life of a woman means that you improve the outcomes for that woman’s family, that woman’s community and, frankly, our world,” Bay said. “It means that you create a better world for children, women and men — for all of us, plain and simple.”
USC Annenberg researcher and professor Stacy Smith was quoted by LA Weekly for studies she conducted with the USC Annenberg Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative on women behind the camera in Hollywood.
In their yearly research, the MDSC Initiative found that in 2013, only 1.9 percent of the directors of Hollywood’s top-grossing films were female.
The article went on to explore how Hollywood studio executives discriminate against female directors and how they can overcome their stereotypical expectations by hiring more women.
This research was also quoted by the Hollywood Reporter.
L.A.’s Food Instagrammers Are Spicing Up Restaurant Marketing
Instagram has become a new source of marketing for restaurants. Public relations professor Matthew LeVeque told LA Weekly why prominent food ‘Instagrammers’ can help increase valuable interactions between a restaurant and its fans.
“If you have a large audience on Instagram, the buzz from a post will be the awareness factor of an establishment,” LeVeque said. “From a restaurant’s perspective, there’s value in having people aware.”
The Quantum Fabric of Space-Time
Professor K.C. Cole wrote an article about a new black hole theory that was featured on Quanta Magazine.
In her article, Cole explored the possibility that the EPR paradox, named after its authors Einstein, Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen, could be related to the ER paradox, which stands for Einstein-Rosen bridges.
“If ER = EPR is correct, the ideas aren’t disconnected — they’re two manifestations of the same thing. And this underlying connectedness would form the foundation of all space-time,” Cole wrote.
This Group Is Fulfilling More Than Just The Basic Needs Of LA’s Homeless Youth
USC Annenberg student Anna-Catherine Brigida reported on South L.A.’s homeless youth population and how an organization called Sanctuary of Hope is trying to help provide housing and assistance.
South L.A has the largest homeless population in the city. 2,000 of the 11,000 homeless individuals in South L.A. are under the age of 24. For these youths, Sanctuary of Hope provides not only housing, but also a support system and a sense of community.
While it only allows female live-in residents to keep program participants safe from sexual exploitation, the program extends a variety of services to non-live-in homeless youth, such as computer access to apply for jobs, grocery store gift cards and transportation vouchers.
This story was featured on the Huffington Post as part of the What’s Working Challenge with USC Annenberg.
Hail to the Chief (all five of them on TV)
With five television shows about the oval office currently airing, the chief executive is depicted very differently in each of them. CBS‘ Madam Secretary and HBO’s Veep both portray female presidents, which political communication professor Thomas Hollihan told WFAA can affect attitudes.
“I think there’s a lot of historical experience that suggests media programs prepare people for the cultural shifts that are going to occur in their lifetime,” Hollihan said. “Entertainment [can] move culture as well as reflect culture.”
Think of Undocumented Immigrants as Parents, Not Problems
At least one in every 15 children living in the U.S. has an unauthorized parent, and nearly all of those children are native-born U.S. citizens. In a New York Times op-ed, professor Roberto Suro writes about the problems caused by current immigration policies.
“In a recent report, we assessed more than 50 research studies of the children of unauthorized immigrants conducted by scholars in a variety of fields,” Suro said. “This growing body of work shows that fear and uncertainty breed difficulties that manifest themselves in delayed cognitive development, lower educational performance and clinical levels of anxiety.”
Suro says that to find a solution, we must first think of undocumented immigrants as parents who are raising our nation’s children and not just people who slipped the border to find work.
“These young citizens are at risk of being less than full members of society. Removing the threat of deportation from their families gives them a chance to prosper,” Suro said.
The Washington Dread and Denial Association
On his column in Jewish Journal, Norman Lear professor Marty Kaplan talked about the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner and how the press is failing at its job to educate citizens.
Kaplan criticizes the press for being in denial about issues like the Iraq war and the flaws of our political system. However, Kaplan says that we are all guilty of being in denial about other terrible events, because we would not be able to handle facing the realities of risk and mortality all the time.
“Luckily, the human brain has a built-in proclivity for processing tragedy with magical thinking, for believing we’re being rational rather than actually being rational. That helps with the pain,” Kaplan said.
Jameis Winston battles to change public perception, earn No. 1 draft spot
Former Florida State University quarterback Jameis Winston’s actions off the field have created a negative public image. While he has had no arrests, his checkered past includes a sexual assault allegation and a shoplifting citation.
Director of the USC Annenberg Institute of Sports, Media and Society professor Daniel Durbin told MSN that there are major concerns about whether he could be the face of a franchise.
“It’s a big challenge for anyone who wants to hire him,” Durbin said. “There’s a narrative that can appear that you’re doing this out of desperation and that you’re taking a ‘bad guy’ by sheer desperation.”
