2008 Spotlight
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January 2009
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A Note From the Director
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 Could there be a better example of the convergence of politics and spectacle than Barack Obama's inauguration festivities? Could the impact of technology on media and journalism, or the kinship of entertainment and attention, be more vividly illustrated than by what was on display this past week? That's the terrain the Norman Lear Center studies. As we head into 2009, I want to highlight for you some of the exciting work we did in 2008 that will carry forward in the year to come. Martin Kaplan
Director, The Norman Lear Center |
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Attention is not only a central feature of human consciousness, but also one of the scarcest social resources in the information age. Politicians, journalists, marketers, the entertainment industry, even educators and the clergy: everyone wants our attention. Increasingly, attention is considered to be a form of capital. Some economists argue that attention in fact constitutes a parallel economy run on a virtual currency. The Lear Center and frog design have joined forces to take a cross-disciplinary look at how attention works both in the real world and from the project's home in the virtual world Second Life. Launched in 2008, this new project examines how shrinking attention-spans and the commoditization of attention shape our culture for good and for ill, and how the attention economy is informing new business models in advertising, media and design.
 Read the transcript or watch the video of a debate about the future of
the attention economy, featuring Richard Lanham, author of The
Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information
and David Merkoski, Creative Director at frog design.
Find out what psychologists, sociologists, neuroscientists,
anthropologists and marketers think about attention in an annotated bibliography by Patrick Reed.
Industries with strong copyright protection (music, film, TV, publishing) are finding it hard to compete in the digital marketplace: how do you protect your creative output when amateurs can make perfect copies with the click of a button? Since 2001, the Lear Center has produced innovative research on some of the most complicated issues facing the creative industries. In 2008, Lear Center Deputy Director Johanna Blakley presented new research on the fashion industry and its use of a "creative commons" at several venues, including the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising and iSummit in Sapporo, Japan.
Last year, the Lear Center launched a new international project on Advertising, Technology & the Future of Media, a partnership with the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute of the Open University of Catalonia and the Barcelona Media Center at the University Pompeu Fabra. Annenberg Professor Manuel Castells and Lear Center Director Martin Kaplan are leading the effort, which analyzes how new technologies are transforming the advertising industry and the global media business.
With revenues of $214 billion, the U.S. fashion industry dwarfs the
film and music industries. Find out how the fashion industry manages to
thrive without copyright protection.
Audiences may be
migrating online, but with Americans averaging over 32 hours of
TV-watching per week, old media still capture the lion's share of
eyeballs. Find out more in our report on The Future of Television.
Since 2005, the Lear Center has partnered with the LA Times to push for transparency in the design process of the proposed Grand Avenue Park in downtown Los Angeles. Our efforts included an international design competition, live Web-casts of community meetings, collaboration with elementary schools and colleges across the region and the creation of a Web portal containing design proposals, news updates, 3D visualization tools and profiles of inspiring parks around the world.
2008 brought much news about the park but no ground-breaking. The Grand Avenue Development, which is the financial linchpin of the park, ran into funding problems, which will likely postpone the February 15 start date. Earlier this year, the developer revealed preliminary design ideas and models that reflected many elements of proposals submitted during our Grand Intervention design competition. Schematic designs and a business model for the park are expected to be announced next month.
The next public meetings are February 9th and 23rd. To be added to the email list for these meetings, please email here.
Read Marty Kaplan's response to the current park proposal and view the preliminary design models presented to the public April 22, 2008, or watch video of the presentation meeting.
Our research demonstrates that entertainment media have a profound impact on knowledge and behavior. The Lear Center's Hollywood, Health & Society harnesses this power to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities worldwide by supplying writers and producers with accurate information for health storylines. This year, under the leadership of new director Sandra de Castro Buffington, HH&S conducted an unprecedented "narratives" workshop at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, presented papers at the United Nations Population Fund in the Middle East, co-sponsored a study of health content on TV with the Kaiser Family Foundation and honored several top television shows at the Sentinel for Health Awards.
Grey's Anatomy, ER, Private Practice, Breaking Bad and Desperate Housewives were just a few of the shows that informed and educated viewers about healthy choices. Read about all the winners of the 2008 Sentinel for Health Awards.
In our study of top-rated TV shows, six out of 10 episodes had at least one health-related storyline. Find out what health issues dominate prime time in How Healthy is Prime Time?
Founded in 2000 by Annenberg professor Joe Saltzman, the Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture analyzes conflicting images of the journalist in entertainment media. The IJPC database --which tracks depictions of journalists in film, television, radio, fiction, commercials and cartoons -- surpassed 67,000 entries this year. In 2008, IJPC issued a new hour-long video and substantial research materials on the history of female journalists. New initiatives include a peer-reviewed journal and a research project on the "Image of the Gay Journalist in Popular Culture."
From The Female Tatler, published in 1700, to Lois Lane in Superman Returns, take a look at 300 years worth of female newsgatherers.
Take a glimpse at what it was like to be black in America 40 years ago by watching Joe Saltzman's award-winning documentary Black on Black.
Since 2001, the Lear Center has worked with partners such as the Carnegie Corporation to examine the way news and entertainment media affect policy development and public perceptions of government. This year, the Lear Center and The Brookings Institution issued a report on Democracy in the Age of New Media, which examines new media's role in the U.S. immigration debate, especially how the media conditioned public opinion and the policy landscape during the last national debate on immigration in 2006/07.
The Lear Center also launched an exciting new research project with the American Civil Liberties Union. Rights/Camera/Action looks at how portrayals of government power in popular film and television affect audiences' understanding of civil liberties. Research activities include a national telephone survey, focus groups and a content analysis of popular films and TV shows that contain storylines about the War on Drugs and the War on Terror.
Can showing civil rights issues in movies be entertaining and informative? Listen to actor Kal Penn and others discuss this with Johanna Blakley at the ACLU National Conference or read the transcript.
Find out how the political blogosphere -- including Daily Kos, Talking Points Memo, Instapundit, Michelle Malkin, and Power Line -- really covered immigration in Roberto Suro's detailed content analysis.
The Lear Center conducted its second extensive national survey examining the correlation between political beliefs and entertainment preferences. In a partnership with pollster Zogby International, the Lear Center developed a unique political typology that allows respondents to weigh in on a wide variety of social and political issues. The typology uncovered a nation split not in two, but rather in three. The Lear Center released profiles of these three groups, tips on how campaigns can reach coveted swing-voters, as well as data indicating that America is a Center-Left nation.
Find out if your entertainment preferences match your political ideology by reading the profiles of Reds, Blues & Purples in the Lear Center's 2008 survey.
Does the election of Barack Obama indicate a mandate for Center-Left governing? Find out where the country's political leanings are according to the Lear Center/Zogby data.
Led by Annenberg professor Josh Kun, the Popular Music Project takes pop music seriously in a rich mix of public events, research projects, and Los Angeles campus residencies. 2008 began with "A Special Evening at REDCAT -- Listen Again: Music You Should Change Your Mind About Right Now" which featured dozens of scholars, artists and music makers, each introducing one song that deserves renewed examination and appreciation.
Catch up on the grooviest Jewish music you've never heard! And You Shall Know Us By The Trail Of Our Vinyl is a book and a blog by Josh Kun and Roger Bennett.
Are music critics critical about their careers now? Read a transcript of Ann Powers' roundtable discussion on "The Death of the Critic."
The Lear Center is very proud to have helped launch Remix America, a multi-partisan, non-profit Web site that uses digital technology to give everyone the chance to remix the words, music, images and sounds that make America what it is. Powered by Kaltura, Remix America allows visitors to remix videos right on the Web site, where they can be viewed and remixed by everyone else. The goal is to engage a new generation in political conversation through digital technology and root that conversation in the American ideals of freedom, equality, democracy and fair use.
Take the Born Again American Remix Challenge by writing new lyrics to a song about the rebirth of American citizenship.
Tired of watching cute kittens on YouTube? Tune into Remix America for video entertainment that won't rot your teeth: for starters, check out this sharp indictment of energy policy (music courtesy of MIA and The Clash) and this tongue in cheek remix of Colbert's interview with remix-master Larry Lessig.
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