Communication professors Peter Vorderer and Ute Ritterfeld , along with Cristoph Klimmt from Hannover University of Music and Drama, have outlined a new model for understanding the central role of enjoyment as a key aspect of entertainment. "Because media entertainment--and media enjoyment at the very heart of this experience--have become so crucial in multiple domains of communication and daily life, we must formalize our understanding of it by using a theoretical framework and basic foundations," they write in an article entitled "Enjoyment: At the Heart of Media Entertainment."

In his first new book as a member of the USC Annenberg School faculty, communication professor Manuel Castells has edited The Network Society: A Cross-Cultural Perspective . The book features chapters written by Castells, along with chapters by Annenberg doctoral students Araba Sey and Jack Linchuan Qiu and postdoctoral fellow Jeffrey Juris . The book, published by Elgar , is unique for its truly multicultural perspective and is expected to be used worldwide. Castells holds the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Communication Technology and Society. View faculty bio page»

Mary Bitterman (pictured, top), chair of the PBS board of directors, addressed the future of public broadcasting at the inaugural James L. Loper Lecture in Public Service Broadcasting at the USC Annenberg School for Communication on Thursday, Nov. 10 . The series honors James L. Loper (pictured, bottom), a respected industry executive who served as executive director of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and as president and general manager of Los Angeles public television station KCET. Loper has served on the USC Annenberg faculty since 1999 and started the School’s Program for the Study of Public Broadcasting.

Communication professor Rebecca Weintraub has been selected to receive the 2004 Award for Higher Education for Distance Learning Teaching presented by the United States Distance Learning Association . Weintraub won the award for her Strategic Corporate Communication class (Communication 502). Judges cited her "creative and innovative approach to learning" as well as her "positive impact" in making the selection. She will be honored at USDLA's Training Fall 2004 Conference & Expo in San Francisco on October 12. More about the award»

Visiting professor Patrick Rossler analyzes German media coverage and the public's response to the first Presidential debate in an online essay. "Germany, a long-term ally of the USA but recently more and more divergent in many stances on international politics, observes this campaign with special interest: In this influential EU country, many observers label the decision of the American voters as crucial for the future world order and the development of the American-European relationship," writes Rossler, visiting this semester from the University of Erfurt in Germany. This fall, he is teaching a class on mass communication theory and research at USC Annenberg. In addition, USC Annenberg has hosted debate viewing events for students. Read coverage in the Daily Trojan from Oct. 6 and Oct. 1 . Read the essay»

Researchers from USC's Annenberg School for Communication, Keck School of Medicine, the Department of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy, and Viterbi School of Engineering, along with researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas in Austin, have been awarded a $1.8 million grant as part of a new National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant program designed to encourage interdisciplinary research. The new grants are intended to create Exploratory Centers for Interdisciplinary Research. The USC center is aimed at exploring new directions in stroke neurorehabilitation. As part of the effort, USC Annenberg communication professor Margaret McLaughlin (pictured), along with Albert Rizzo of USC's Institute for Creative Technologies, will conduct research using virtual environments for rehabilitation of stroke patients with upper arm impairment. FULL STORY More about the NIH Roadmap»

CNN NewsNight anchor Aaron Brown participated in a candid discussion about his job and the news business with a capacity room of almost 100 USC Annenberg students, faculty and staff on Sept. 30. "We seem to be in a time when in an oddly national way we only want to hear what reinforces what we believe," said Brown, the featured guest at USC Annenberg Dean Geoffrey Cowan 's biweekly Open Forum. "I think the country, and this is the left and right, only wants to hear those who agree with them." Brown said it is up to networks such as CNN to make their programming more accessible to a broader range of viewers. FULL STORY CNN NewsNight home page»

The USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future marks the 10-year anniversary of the Internet's public debut with an in-depth report on the Web's impact titled "Ten Years, Ten Trends." "After a decade of observing the evolution of the Internet, and four years of our formal studies of online technology, we are seeing clear trends in how the Internet has changed the United States," said Jeffrey Cole , director of the Center for the Digital Future. Cole and the Center found that three-quarters of Americans now go online, and that they average 12.5 hours of surfing time per week – the highest since the study started four years ago. "Our annual projects explore more than 100 major issues concerning online behavior," he said. "Of these findings, 10 broad trends have emerged that have particular relevance as we reach the 10-year anniversary of the opening of the Internet to the public." Read coverage in USA Today » Read the release» Read the report» Visit the Center's web site»