There are now more news sites than ever - and more going online every week. News about education, the environment, politics - you name it and there are dozens of news sites dedicated to the topic of your choice. This is particulary true for the nonprofit sites - organizations funded mostly by foundations ostensibly committed to giving voice to those left out by commercial and corporate news sites. So have we reached a point where everyone has a voice? Everyone has a chance

Thanks to the Asian American Journalists Association, AAJA, we have new evidence exposing a dirty little secret about the news business in this country: Newsrooms in America do not reflect the readers they serve. Ok, it's not really a secret but it might as well be given the utter lack of attention this issue gets. And it certainly doesn't get much news coverage. The report posted by AAJA, "Missed deadline: The delayed promise of newsroom diversity," details the results of a

We probably don’t know where our tomatoes come from anymore than where our bread is baked or where our chickens are raised. As consumers we stopped asking those questions long ago – not because it doesn’t matter – but probably because it became too complicated to understand. And really, as long as it was affordable, easy to get and (we hope) safe, we probably stopped caring. The same now goes for our news and information. We can plug into any one of thousands of “streams” of

This headline in the LA Times made me cough up my morning coffee the other day. While I'm sure it was a tragedy to the family of the poodle, it also provides a striking example of how "news" has changed in this the 2nd largest media market in the country. But more importantly, it underscores the dramatic need we have for sources of news and information that are relevant to our respective communities. If you live in La Crescenta and own a small dog this is probably relevant, m

Remember cable access TV shows? They provided local audiences some of the most interesting, entertaining and also boring and sometimes silly programming we ever saw. I specifically remember a talk show where sock puppets interviewed each other about political affairs, a cooking show where the chef seemed either drunk or high, and a wonderful program about art history taught by a nun. Nutty or not, these programs also gave communities valuable broadcast airtime to discuss loca