Journalism professor Joe Saltzman , director of the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture project, has been selected by Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism to receive its 2005 Journalism Alumni Award . He will be honored along with Heidi Evans , New...

Three Annenberg alumni received coveted USC Alumni Association awards at a gala ceremony on March 4 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. Lisa Leslie , BA Communication ’97, and Frederick J. Ryan, Jr. , BA Speech Communication ’77 and JD ’80, received USC Alumni Merit Awards, presented annually to "individuals whose remarkable accomplishments speak well for the range and quality of a USC education." Gerald "Jerry" S. Papazian , BA Public Relations ’77, received the prestigious Fred B. Olds Award, which is presented on special occasions to USC alumni "for their extraordinary and unparalleled service to the university over a long period of time." Papazian received a USC Alumni Service Award in 1990. Visit the Alumni Association Awards page»

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»

Jesse Aron , a senior broadcast journalism student at the USC Annenberg School for Communication, is the 2005 recipient of the Chick Hearn Memorial Scholarship . The $5,000 scholarship is funded by an endowment established by the Los Angeles Lakers in memory of legendary sports broadcaster Chick Hearn, who died in 2002.

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.

Proving that good political coverage can make great television, USC Annenberg has announced the winners of the 2005 USC Annenberg Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Political Journalism. Winners range from Hearst-Argyle Television to NBC News "Meet the Press with Tim Russert" to 6News in Lawrence, Kan. "At a time when the legitimacy of journalism is under attack, and when...

Communication professor Jonathan Aronson (pictured) has been named by USC Provost Max Nikias as the new executive director of the Annenberg Center for Communication . "As a researcher, writer, and scholar, Professor Aronson has developed a unique expertise in international communication policy and globalization, which makes him particularly well-suited for this position," said Nikias when...