Gabriel Kahn (pictured, left), a veteran journalist who most recently served as The Wall Street Journal’s LA bureau chief, next month will join a team of USC Annenberg  faculty leading a new initiative to broaden students’ business savvy and grasp of economics – a key proficiency they will apply to careers in the rapidly evolving fields of journalism and communication.

Kahn is one of four new hires who will join nine current Annenberg faculty working to deepen the school’s focus on student comprehension of economics and the multi-layered connections to the communication revolution.

Kahn has worked as a newspaper correspondent and editor for two decades, including 10 years at the Journal, where he also served as the deputy Hong Kong bureau chief and deputy Southern Europe bureau chief, based in Rome. In 1998, he launched and edited Italy Daily, in collaboration with the International Herald Tribune. He has reported from more than a dozen countries.

“There is an acute need for journalism and communication students to have a stronger skill set in economics and business, no matter what field they pursue,” said Kahn, whose job at The Wall Street Journal called for distilling a broad set of financial issues on a global scale.

“I was attracted to Annenberg’s commitment to making economic literacy a deeper focus throughout the school. This job offers the opportunity to become involved in mapping out and understanding the changing nature of the media business and the news business in particular, and I’m eager to be part of that,” Kahn said.

Additional new faculty focused on the economic literacy initiative will be:

• Lian Jian : An information economist who studies the economics of online information systems, her research includes an econometric study of feedback strategy by eBay users and a data-driven study of why people stop contributing to Wikipedia. She also focuses on the innovation of new business models of online content production.
• Paolo Sigismondi : His research and teaching interests focus on the phenomena of globalization forged by new technologies and economic forces such as multinational corporations, especially media, advertising and entertainment conglomerates and their impact on society. He has more than a decade of experience working in the global media and entertainment industry.
• Ergin Bayrak : An economist whose current research and teaching interests are the economics of media and communication industries, the economics of radio spectrum, economic literacy and entrepreneurship, and the economics of innovation.

“Our goal is to be one of the world leaders in economic literacy and analysis among media schools globally," said Dean Ernest J. Wilson III. "The addition of these new faculty members demonstrates USC Annenberg’s continuing commitment to providing our students the curriculum, programs and learning opportunities necessary for success in the rapidly changing  fields of communication and journalism.”

In addition, the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism is strengthening its public relations and communication tracts by adding faculty members who focus on entrepreneurship, social networking, political communication and the connection between online media and social change.

These new faculty include:

• Burghardt Tenderich : An expert in social networking, he was formerly the executive director of the Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at the University of California at Berkeley, where he lectured on technology innovation. He has 20 years of experience in marketing and communication in the information technology and internet industries, both in the United States and in Europe. 
• Kjerstin Thorson : A political communication specialist, Thorson focuses on the role of digital media in political persuasion, methods of mobilizing young people through social media and the resulting changes to the nature of citizenship. Her recent research focused on how online communication affected the 2008 presidential election.
• Yu Hong :  A China specialist whose research focuses on the political economy of global communication and China’s information and communications industries. She is examining China's efforts of economic restructuring in relation to the development of information and communication technology industries.
• Mathew Curtis : A former marketing and statistical consultant for business entrepreneurs, his research focuses on persuasion and influence and examining how people compare themselves to others as a way of understanding their role in work and social settings. He has extensively researched linguistics, including the effects of language in jury instructions.

USC Annenberg continues to expand its program in entertainment communication, with the key hire of a seasoned, award-winning entertainment journalist.

• Mary Murphy : A news producer and on-screen correspondent for Entertainment Tonight, she also contributes to USA Weekend Magazine, The New York Post and The Hollywood Reporter. She was a senior reporter at TV Guide for 20 years and is co-author of Blood Cold, an investigation of the Robert Blake murder scandal.