Media Analytics Strategist Dana Chinn Will Lead USC Annenberg Initiative To Measure Impact Of Media

LOS ANGELES, July 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Dana Chinn, a media analytics strategist and longtime faculty member at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, has been named Director of the Norman Lear Center's Media Impact Project (MIP).

Chinn has more than two decades of experience researching and teaching analytics for content- and mission-based organizations. As a consultant, she helps news organizations and nonprofits understand how analytics can be used to build and retain audiences. At USC Annenberg she also develops interdisciplinary programs that partner news organizations with faculty and students from journalism, business, engineering, public policy and other USC schools.

Before coming to USC, she worked in digital media, strategic planning, market research and finance at media companies such as Gannett and the Los Angeles Times.

The Lear Center's Media Impact Project is a joint project with the USC Viterbi School of Engineering that strives to accelerate measurement thinking and open source tool development in order to explore, validate and share applied solutions for measuring impact. It is supported by grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Open Society Foundations.

"Dana brings to MIP her incredible passion for reading the digital tea leaves, hunting for the kinds of insights that help media organizations reach target audiences efficiently and optimize impact," said Lear Center Managing Director and Director of Research Johanna Blakley.

"Understanding how – and how much – people consume information is essential to the future of journalism and communication," Chinn said. "I'm looking forward to building the Media Impact Project into a hub that brings together people in news, film, television, digital communication, academia and the analytics community who have made great strides in understanding how much media affect audiences."

For more information about the Lear Center Media Impact Project, visit www.MediaImpactProject.org.

The Norman Lear Center is a multidisciplinary research and public policy center studying and shaping the impact of entertainment and media on society. From its base in the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, the Lear Center builds bridges between faculty who study aspects of entertainment, media and culture. Beyond campus, it bridges the gap between the entertainment industry and academia, and between them and the public. For more information, visit www.learcenter.org.

Located in Los Angeles at the University of Southern California, the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism (annenberg.usc.edu) is a national leader in education and scholarship in the fields of communication, journalism, public diplomacy and public relations. With an enrollment of more than 2,200 students, USC Annenberg offers doctoral, graduate and undergraduate degree programs, as well as continuing development programs for working professionals across a broad scope of academic inquiry. The school's comprehensive curriculum emphasizes the core skills of leadership, innovation, service and entrepreneurship and draws upon the resources of a networked university located in the media capital of the world.

Engineering Studies began at the University of Southern California in 1905. Nearly a century later, the Viterbi School of Engineering received a naming gift in 2004 from alumnus Andrew J. Viterbi, inventor of the Viterbi algorithm now key to cell phone technology and numerous data applications. Consistently ranked among the top graduate programs in the world, the school enrolls more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students, taught by 174 tenured and tenure-track faculty, with 60 endowed chairs and professorships. For more information, visit viterbi.usc.edu.

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people — especially those with the fewest resources — have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett. For information, visit www.gatesfoundation.org.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant societies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. Working with local communities in more than 100 countries, the Open Society Foundations support justice and human rights, freedom of expression, and access to public health and education. For more information, visit www.opensocietyfoundations.org.

SOURCE USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center