USC partners with media giants to expand diversity project

The Walt Disney Company, NBC, Universal Music Group and others are helping the University of Southern California lead an expanded effort to drive diversity in the entertainment industry.

The university's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism announced Thursday that is broadening the mission of its Media, Diversity & Social Change Initiative to include the music world as well as television and movies and renaming the project the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative.

In addition to Disney, NBC and Universal, Sony Pictures Entertainment, HBO and talent agency WME are also joining the effort.

The initiative releases an annual study on various issues surrounding diversity. Last year, it ranked media companies on their inclusion records.