There are about 800 million radio sets in the U.S. and while some of them may be new, they are all so…old. The latest technology is digital or high definition – HD radio, for short – and without static. In New York and many other cities you can listen to ...

Video News Releases are pre-produced PR products paid for by corporations or government agencies but made to look like original reported news pieces, which is how they’re often slipped into your local news with no disclaimer. The practice has been around for years, but before now nobody has quantified how ...

Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's Countdown, has a weekly segment called "the worst person in the world," and frequently awards that honor to Bill O'Reilly, of Fox's O'Reilly Factor. Recently, O'Reilly cracked. He said anyone who spoke Olbermann's name on his program would hear from Fox security and apparently, at ...

The White House spokesperson has briefed the press live on TV regularly since 1998 when Clinton Press Secretary Mike McCurry allowed CNN's cameras go live. The result is that the public can watch as reporters do the dirty work of trying to get answers from the spokesperson. Theatrics are a ...

The late media critic Neil Postman argued in his seminal book "Amusing Ourselves to Death," that as TV prevailed over the printed word, it impaired our ability to make sense of a world of information. Jay Rosen writes the blog, PressThink and is a professor at NYU, where Postman taught. ...

Every Sunday, millions of Americans tune into the big three networks’ Sunday talk shows to hear from some of the nation’s most powerful. Considering the balance of power in Washington, it’s no surprise that these days, the guest list tends to skew right. But according to a new report from ...

The past year has been a tumultuous one for administrators of public broadcasting, and programmers have had to fend off accusations of political bias. Into the embers of the skirmish steps Paula Kerger, who's just been chosen as the new president and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service. Bob speaks ...

After seven years, NBC will retire The West Wing in May. From the beginning, the show that brought the Oval Office into your living room was unusual network fare - the dialogue a little faster, and the characters a little smarter than nearly anything else on the air. Time magazine ...

The broadcast spectrum became a little less crowded this week. The owners of the fifth and sixth networks - UPN and The WB - announced they're joining forces to create a single network: The CW. When UPN and The WB were born, the idea was to target urban youth. But ...

If you were watching a lot of TV this week, you might have caught the debut of a new Absolut ad. In itself, the spot is hardly revolutionary. What was revolutionary was the accompanying announcement that after 25 years and some 1,500 print ads, Absolut is moving away from the ...

Swapping identities is one of Reality TV's favorite themes. And so it was probably only a matter of time before a show came along that applied the device to Race in America. In March, FX will debut Black.White., which features two families - one black and one white - who ...

The cameras were focused squarely on Sam Alito this week. But if he's confirmed as Supreme Court Justice, the hearings will have been TV viewers' last chance to see him in action. Unless, of course, the current rules are changed to allow video cameras in the Supreme Court. C-SPAN founder ...

With Christmas just a week away, every gear, gadget and gizmo company on the NASDAQ is vying for your dollars. Wondering which digital camera is best? The tech expert on your local news might be able to help. What you won't learn from these segments, however, is that some "experts" ...

The Arab world, it seems, is awash with public opinion polls. Where we used to get anecdotal reporting about the "Arab street," we increasingly have numbers to back those impressions up. A recent Zogby poll set out to learn not only what Arabs think about world news, but how those ...

This week, FCC chairman Kevin Martin suggested that consumers should be allowed to pick and choose "a la carte" which cable channels come into their homes. The cable industry cried foul. As Los Angeles Times reporter Jube Shiver explains to Bob, the debate has confronted one group with an especially ...

Last week, the British tabloid The Daily Mirror alleged that in the spring of 2004, President Bush suggested bombing the Qatar headquarters of al-Jazeera. The U.S. press has trod lightly on the story, which was based on a leaked memo that has not yet been published. But the rest of ...

Despite millions of dollars in television advertising, beer sales have gone flat in recent years. Meanwhile, market share for both spirits and wine has crept up. Bob Lachky, executive vice president for global industry development at Anheuser-Busch, is trying to organize the Beer Institute and other brewers into a media ...

When a name-brand product shows up in a TV show, it's most likely no accident. With TV's traditional advertising model threatened by new technologies, networks are increasingly allowing marketers to integrate their pitches into the story scripts themselves. But that arrangement doesn't sit well with TV's writers. Brooke talks to ...

Big television is undergoing big changes - not so much in content but in how we watch it, when we watch it, and who delivers the goods. In recent weeks, ABC has partnered with iTunes, CBS with Comcast, and NBC with Direct TV. The deals will allow people to view ...

Do you want to be on TV, but don't have the talent, time, connections, or money? Then reality TV might be the way to go. Still in need of a shortcut? Just fill out an application at RTVStar.com, a talent clearinghouse that offers casting directors a searchable database of aspiring ...