Billionaire Sam Zell is taking over at the Tribune Company, parent of the L.A. Times. But who should own newspapers? Companies? Families? Very rich guys? L.A. Times media critic Tim Rutten says that behind every great newspaper is a great family.

EMI has agreed to drop the digital locks that have become standard for online music. Other music companies have argued the locks prevent piracy, but critics say they prevent consumers from freely using their purchases. Endgadget editor Ryan Block discusses the industry's attempts to secure its ...

For several years now, there’s been nothing but bad news for the newspaper business. But Marketplace correspondent Dan Grech reports that 2006 was the year that journalists finally saw the writing on the wall.

During his 20 years at NBC, Warren Littlefield experienced both the highs and lows of television programming. His early years were forged during the network’s single least successful lineup, but then Littlefield went on to oversee much of NBC’s 80s and 90s renaissance. He speaks with Brooke about ...

Last weekend's $1.6 billion deal between Google and YouTube left some people scratching their heads over the enormity of the price-tag. New media consultant Rishad Tobaccowala tells Bob why the online video site is worth that much., despite the giant obsticles Google will face in making YouTube a money-maker.

For people who spend a lot of time online, "network neutrality" is one of the most important issues pending in Washington. But the question of whether to create a "premium lane" on the information superhighway also has a lot of bearing on TV, too. This Wednesday, Rick Karr will examine ...

Lawyers aren’t the only ones whose livelihoods are helped along by public scandals. There are also crisis management firms, who trade on their ability to work the media and influence public perceptions. Richard Levick runs one such firm, and has been called in to finesse such P.R. nightmares as the ...

A little under a year ago, it was revealed that the Lincoln Group had been contracted by the Pentagon to pay for good press in the Iraqi media. Details were sketchy, but this month Harper’s published an account by Willem Marx of his summer in Baghdad interning for the Lincoln ...

As long as citizen journalism proponents have been pumping its merits, skeptics have been bothered by one question: Where will the funds come from? NYU journalism professor Jay Rosen thinks he has an answer, and is launching a website to test it. He tells Bob how NewAssignment.net will attempt to ...

And we thought our jobs were safe. New technology has always made easier some of the more menial tasks of the journalist, especially those of market and wire reporters? But at Thomson Financial in New York, machines are now journalists, too. Bob speaks with Director of Content Development Andrew Meagher ...

Fordham University law professor Hugh Hansen is an advocate of strong copyright laws. But even he concedes that for low-budget filmmakers, copyright can be more of a burden than a blessing. Brooke speaks with him and with Duke law professor James Boyle, who thinks copyright holders have ushered in a ...

Simply put, “fair use” is a legal principle that allows copyrighted material to be used without permission from or payment to the owner. But a recent symposium on the subject at New York University demonstrated just how difficult it is to know what constitutes fair. And in the meantime, many ...

Getting a candidate elected has its rewards, but losing isn't bad either. A media consultant for a congressional candidate, for instance, may get as much as 10-15% of the total spent on TV ads. Salon Washington bureau chief Walter Shapiro tells Bob that Americans might not fork over as many ...