We're a little late to the listicle party, but want to still weigh-in on the 10 journalists and journalism-related trends to watch in 2014. Here's the who, what and why. Take a gander and leave us your thoughts. Roland Martin is probably one of the busiest journalists in the business. Starting at 6 a.m., he helps a daily morning radio show on Radio One; after that he anchors a daily morning news show on TV ...

By Tracie Powell House Republican leaders Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Greg Walden (R-Ore.) sat in front of a dry erase board with the hash-tag, #CommActUpdate, written in marker, to talk with former Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell (a GOP appointee) via Google Hangout about updating the 1996 Communications Act. If ever there was an oxymoron. It is also symbolic of what's wrong with Washingto ...

By Tracie Powell When it comes to blurring the lines between advertising and news content, some journalists are leading the way. In the past, news organizations worked extra hard to keep their news and advertising departments separate. But the digital age, and the increasing importance of native advertising to news gatherers' bottom line, is changing all of that. Mashable's Chief Strategy Officer, Adam Ostr ...

Anybody else notice how fast UNITY: Journalists for Diversity dropped the National Association of Hispanic Journalists from its description? I can't blame them for being prepared for Tuesday's vote, after all, NAHJ's decision to leave came as no surprise.NAHJ's rocky relationship with UNITY is no secret, and follows the National Association of Black Journalists' abrupt departure two years ago. While NAHJ's ...

By Mike Green There are literally hundreds of programs, efforts and initiatives across the nation targeting the empowerment of America's black boys. The result of so many efforts is demonstrable failure to move significant needles that measure success. Most of these efforts are severely under-funded and most miss the mark with their predominant focus on marketing mantra from the 20th century (i.e. get a goo ...

Is Twitter Ruining America and American politics? "Why do we need journalism when we have social media" is the rallying cry of those who have a perspective to share. If you have something to say — a cool link you saw or a photo or a review of a restaurant — you go on Facebook and Twitter and Yelp and say it. Why do you need journalists to tell you about links or how good restaurants are when you have social ...

By Tracie Powell Throughout its 168 year history, Scientific American is known as much for its writers as it is for its exploration of science and technology. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein, have written for the magazine. Danielle Lee is another one of its well-known scientific writers. Lee, a biologist who studies animal behavior, mammals and the ways organisms interact with their enviro ...

Here's a piece I wrote for the Columbia Journalism Review about UNITY's recent troubles before and after the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) took its exit in 2011. Now the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) are set to vote on whether to leave. Here's how UNITY got to where it is and how its new president hopes to reverse course. Excerpt: "With the National Association of Bl ...

Unfortunately, the media is not properly informing the U.S. population of the factors at work in the shutdown. As happens so often, too many reporters are claiming a false equivalency between the GOP and Democrats, and frankly, they’re not serving democracy with such weak analysis. I talk more with Voice of Russia's Jamila Bey. This is an UPDATE to a piece I wrote over the weekend. ...

What is there to be done? The first and most important thing is to recognize how we came to this pass. Both sides did not do this. Both sides are not to blame. There is no compromise to be had here that will leave the current structure of the government intact. There can be no reward for this behavior. I am less sanguine than are many people that this whole thing will redound to the credit of the Democratic ...