As the election season reaches a fever pitch, the ad wars are about to get ugly. Only we’re not talking about Obama versus McCain, but rather another battle being waged for the hearts and minds of American citizens – that of the PC versus the Mac. This week, Microsoft announced the second phase of a $300 million advertising campaign to remake its tattered image following a year-and-a-half long assault on Windows-based computers from rival Apple. Central ... Read More

Of all the issues one might expect Governor Sarah Palin's vice presidential candidacy to highlight, data security seemed like an unlikely contender. That was, of course, until last week when hackers broke into the Governor’s personal Yahoo email accounts and posted messages, screenshots of her inbox, and family photos all over the Internet. Now the Governor is taking some flack, not because she was complicit in or could have somehow prevented the virtual break-in. Rather, the ... Read More

Do you hear that sound? Listen carefully. It’s being heard in newsrooms from Los Angeles to Orlando and from New York to Cleveland. It began as a low, almost inaudible murmur in the late 1990s and has grown ever louder with each passing day. It’s the sound of the last gasping breath of those unable to adapt to a changing world. It’s the sound of irrelevance. Today, newspapers are struggling to keep up with the evolving ... Read More

This week, The New York Times editorial board called on Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) to give up a Committee Chairmanship, while allegations of unpaid taxes are investigated by the House ethics committee. Adding to the embarrassment, the panel Rangel oversees is the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the nation’s tax laws. Clearly, Rangel is now faced with some taxing problems. Initially, the Congressman’s response to the crisis was as unusual as it was brilliant. ... Read More

Last week, we took a look at how bloggers are emerging as a new breed of investigative journalists in an era of massive cutbacks at traditional media outlets across the country. Today, I’d like to delve into another way that everyday citizens are picking up the slack. It’s called “crowdfunding” – and it offers all of us an opportunity to shine the media spotlight on the stories we want told. A few weeks back, Sarah Kershaw ... Read More

In an article published in Broadcasting & Cable Magazine earlier this summer, columnist Marisa Guthrie offered intriguing insight into the future of investigative journalism. She wrote, “Investigations of the rich and powerful, the multinational corporations and monopoly industries have all but dried up, say a coterie of journalists still trying to ply their trade… While investigations are far from extinct, few can make the case that the scope and number of reports on network news are ... Read More