In conjunction with the Off-Broadway debut of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, conversations spotlight journalists, scholars, jurists and public policy leaders

With the nation involved in two wars and facing continuing threats of terrorism, USC Annenberg’s Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) presents TOP SECRET TALKS, a timely examination of the tension between the government’s need for secrecy and the public’s right to know, in conjunction with the New York production of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers.

As issues of government classification—and declassification—confront the current administration and as the Internet opens new frontiers for the disclosure of confidential information, Top Secret Talks promises a month long series of conversations with leading journalists, scholars and policymakers about the modern lessons of the Pentagon Papers story.

Individual programs are presented by organizations such as the Columbia Journalism Review, Human Rights Watch, NYU’s Wagner School of Public Service, the Asia Society, The New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU and the Center for Public Integrity. Speakers will include Daniel Ellsberg, the former Defense and State Department official who gave the Pentagon Papers to the Washington Post; legendary Washington Post investigative reporter  Carl Bernstein; Leslie Gelb, who led the Department of Defense project that produced the Pentagon Papers; New York Times managing editor Jill Abramson; Washington Post editor Marcus Brauchli; and playwright Geoffrey Cowan; among others. Continue reading for a more detailed schedule.

 CCLP hosted Alec Ross, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Senior Advisor for Innovation, for a visit to Los Angeles in February 2010 for a series of discussions about the impact of technology – current and potential – on key issues on the U.S. foreign policy and development agenda. 

CCLP director Geoffrey Cowan and USC Annenberg Dean Ernest J. Wilson III brought together entertainment, media, and academic leaders to explore ways in which their experience and expertise might facilitate the application of mobile, web and other rapidly evolving technologies in areas like human rights, economic development and women’s empowerment.

Everyone knows from American history class that the First Amendment is the great protector of press freedom in the United States, barring Congress from "abridging" the sacred right to publish what you want to publish.

So does that means there's a constitutional wall that separates government and the press, just as it separates church and state?

Not exactly. Contrary to popular perception, the Constitution has not prevented the government from being a supporter of the press, and in fact it has been a generous benefactor since the founding of the country.

In a report issued at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, my colleague Geoffrey Cowan and I concluded that federal, state and local governments have contributed billions of dollars a year to the commercial news business.

Government financial support that has bolstered this country's commercial news business since its colonial days is in sharp decline and is likely to fall further, according to a CCLP report released January 28, 2010. (Watch video from the Washington, D.C. briefing at the National Press Club by clicking here)  Because these cutbacks are occurring at the height of the digital revolution, they will have an especially powerful impact on a weakened news industry

Public Policy and Funding the News is a unique effort to begin examining how involved the government, at all levels, has been in subsidizing news throughout American history to foster an informed citizenry; and what this support has meant for publishers, journalists and news consumers. The report analyzes some of the financial tools that government has used to support the press over the years -- from postal rate discounts and tax breaks to public notices and government advertising. The report documents cutbacks across a range of sectors and presents a framework for the consideration of policy options to place the industry on more secure financial footing.

A new report on the role of government in supporting newspapers and other news organizations will be released by the University of Southern California’s Center on Communication Leadership & Policy on Thursday, January 28, 2010. That same day, a press briefing will be held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. at 9:30 a.m.

The report, Public Policy and Funding the News, is co-authored by Geoffrey Cowan (pictured, left), USC Annenberg School dean emeritus and director of the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP), and David Westphal, former Washington Editor for McClatchy Newspapers and current CCLP senior fellow and USC Annenberg executive-in-residence.

The report examines a common myth: that the commercial press in the United States is independent of governmental funding support.