The Norman Lear Center is a multi-disciplinary research and public policy center exploring implications of the convergence of entertainment, commerce, and society. It is based at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. Through scholarship and research, and its programs of visiting fellows, conferences, public events and publications, the Lear Center works to be at the forefront of discussion and practice in the field.

History

The Center is named after benefactor Norman Lear, the social activist and philanthropist, and television producer, and was founded and is directed by Marty Kaplan, associate dean of the USC Annenberg School, who has been a political speechwriter, Hollywood studio executive, and screenwriter-producer. the mission of The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture, a project of the Norman Lear Center, is to investigate and analyze, through research and publication, the perception of the journalist in media, both seen and heard. The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture Journal is an online academic journal. The Image of the Journalist in Popular Culture Database has more than 100,000 items.

Since 2005, the Lear Center’s Grand Avenue Intervention Project has been a driving force behind the civic outreach for the planning of a new park in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. In partnership with the Los Angeles Times, the Lear Center solicited design proposals from the public and published a selection of them in a special section of the Times.

The Lear Center's publishing imprint has published several works of scholarship.

References

  • USC Trojan Family Alumni Magazine Article on the Center
  • LAT Article about the Grand Avenue Intervention