Marty Kaplan

Marty Kaplan holds the Norman Lear chair at the University of Southern Californias Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, where he founded and directs the Norman Lear Center for the study of entertainment, media and society. A senior columnist for the Forward, his Jewish Journal pieces won first place at the L.A. Press Clubs journalism awards six times in the past six years. A native of Newark, New Jersey, he graduated summa cum laude in molecular biology from Harvard, where was president of the Harvard Lampoon and gave the English Oration at commencement. The winner of a Marshall scholarship, he got a First in English from Cambridge University. He holds the first Ph.D. conferred by Stanford University in modern thought and literature. In the Carter Administration, Kaplan served as chief speechwriter to Vice President Walter F. Mondale. As deputy campaign manager of Mondales presidential race, he ran speechwriting, issues and research. He worked at Walt Disney Studios for 12 years, as a vice president of production for live-action feature films, and then as a screenwriter. His film credits include The Distinguished Gentleman, a political comedy starring Eddie Murphy that he wrote and executive produced, and Noises Off, directed by Peter Bogdanovich. He has been a frequent guest on television, radio, in print and online, including several appearances on Bill Moyerss shows; as a featured blogger at HuffPo since its inception; and as a recurring commentator on the public radio programs All Things Considered and Marketplace. He also created and hosted So What Else Is News?, a nationally syndicated Air America Radio program examining media, politics and pop culture. He lives in Los Angeles.