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.

 USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) presents Top Secret Talks, a series of conversations among journalists, scholars, and public policy leaders exploring the tension between the government's need for secrecy and the public's right to know. Guests include Geoffrey Cowan, USC university professor and CCLP director, and other special guests. The series is presented in conjunction with the New York production of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, co-written by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons.

8:00 p.m. performance. 9:30 p.m. discussion. New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th Street, New York, N.Y.

USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy  (CCLP) presents Top Secret Talks, a series of conversations among journalists, scholars, and public policy leaders exploring the tension between the government's need for secrecy and the public's right to know. Guests include William E. Buzenberg, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity; Sheila Coronel, director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, Columbia University and the founder of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism; and Bill Kovach, chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists. Their topic:  “Investigative Journalism: Then and Now.” Co-sponsored by the Center for Public Integrity. The series is presented in conjunction with the New York production of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, co-written by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons.

8:00 p.m. performance. 9:30 p.m. discussion. New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th Street, New York, N.Y.

USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) presents Top Secret Talks, a series of conversations among journalists, scholars, and public policy leaders exploring the tension between the government's need for secrecy and the public's right to know. This special program celebrates the legacy of Leroy Aarons, acclaimed journalist, author, activist, and co-writer of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers. Guests include Charles Kaiser, author of Full Court Press and founder and former president of the New York Chapter of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. Co-sponsored by Joshua Boneh and Millie Harmon Meyers. The series is presented in conjunction with the New York production of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, co-written by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons.

2:00 p.m. performance. 3:30 p.m. discussion. New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th Street, New York, N.Y.

To listen to an audio recording of this discussion, please click here.

 

USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) presents Top Secret Talks, a series of conversations among journalists, scholars, and public policy leaders exploring the tension between the government's need for secrecy and the public's right to know. This special program includes a panel discussion with Jill Abramson, managing editor of the New York Times; Carl Bernstein, legendary investigative reporter, Norm Pearlstine, chief content officer, Bloomberg, L.P.; moderated by Geoffrey Cowan, USC university professor and CCLP director. Welcoming remarks by Stephen Graham, founding trustee of New York Theatre Workshop and son of Katharine Graham. The series is presented in  conjunction with the New York production of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, co-written by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons.

8:00 p.m. performance. 9:30 p.m. discussion. New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th Street, New York, N.Y.

To listen to an audio recording of this discussion, please click here.

USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) presents Top Secret Talks, a series of conversations among journalists, scholars, and public policy leaders exploring the tension between the government's need for secrecy and the public's right to know. Carroll Bogert, associate director of Human Rights Watch, moderates a panel with Marcus Brauchli, executive editor of The Washington Post and Tim Weiner, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. Their topic: “An Evening with Human Rights Watch.” Co-sponsored by Human Rights Watch. The series is presented in conjunction with the New York production of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, co-written by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons.

8:00 p.m. performance. 9:30 p.m. discussion. New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th Street, New York, N.Y. 

To listen to an audio recording of this discussion, please click here.

USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) presents Top Secret Talks, a series of conversations among journalists, scholars, and public policy leaders exploring the tension between the government's need for secrecy and the public's right to know. Steve Wasserman, fellow at NYU’s New York Institute for the Humanities, moderates a panel with Todd Gitlin, author and journalist, and David Rudenstine, author of The Day the Presses Stopped: A History of the Pentagon Papers and former dean of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Their topic: “The Language of Torturers: The Pentagon Papers, Then and Now.” Co-sponsored by the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU. The series is presented in conjunction with the New York production of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, co-written by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons.

8:00 p.m. performance. 9:30 p.m. discussion. New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th Street, New York, N.Y. 

To listen to an audio recording of this discussion, click here.

USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) presents Top Secret Talks, a series of conversations among journalists, scholars, and public policy leaders exploring the tension between the government's need for secrecy and the public's right to know. Guests include Jonathan Schell, author and journalist, in conversation with Orville Schell, Arthur Ross director of the Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations.  Their topic: “The Learned and Unlearned Lessons of the Vietnam War and the Nixon Administration.” Co-sponsored by the Asia Society. The series is presented in conjunction with the New York production of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, co-written by Geoffrey Cowan and Leroy Aarons. 

7:00 p.m. performance. 8:30 p.m. discussion. New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th Street, New York, N.Y.

To listen to an audio recording of this discussion, click here.

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.

USC Annenberg's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) presents Top Secret Talks, a series of conversations among journalists, scholars, and public policy leaders exploring the tension between the government's need for secrecy and the public's right to know. Guests include Geoffrey Cowan (right), USC University Professor and CCLP director and Bob Shrum, veteran political consultant and senior fellow, NYU Wagner. Cosponsored by the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. The series is presented in conjunction with the New York production of Top Secret: The Battle for the Pentagon Papers, co-written by Cowan.

8:00 p.m. performance. 9:30 p.m. discussion. New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th Street, New York, N.Y.

To listen to an audio recording of this discussion, click here.

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.

The Center on Communication Leadership and Policy (CCLP) presents findings from a new report by Geoffrey Cowan (pictured, left), USC University Professor and CCLP director, and David Westphal, CCLP senior fellow and USC Annenberg executive in residence. The report, Public Policy and Funding the News, is sponsored by Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The report “analyzes some of the financial tools that government has used to support the commercial press throughout our nation’s history -- from postal rate discounts and tax breaks to public notices and government advertising. It documents cutbacks across a range of sectors and presents a framework for the consideration of policy options to place the industry on a more secure financial footing.” Refreshments will be served. RSVP requested. To RSVP, email kmbrowne@usc.edu

9:30 a.m. National Press Club, 529 14th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C.