When I left NBC in early 2009 the most important thing to me after 22 years as a journalist was to keep my voice alive. That’s how Get Real started.
Journalism had been, was and still is in the throes of a radical makeover and to this day I don’t think anyone really knows what the thing is going to look like whenever this transitional era is over (if it ever ends…but that’s another story). What was clear at that time was the big traditional news organizations were losing their audience, …

Somebody should call a doctor. Keith Olbermann is off his meds — again.
Last night Olby went Kujo on Ted Koppel. Koppel? That nice old news man who once did that dry and somber news show called Nightline? Yep. That Ted Koppel.
In case you missed it, this past Sunday the Washington Post gave the former ABC News anchor a chunk of its Op-Ed page to get something off his chest. Koppel wrote about what’s happened to television news in the last decade or so and what he thinks it means for the …

The kerfuffle over MSNBC’s “indefinite suspension” of Keith Olbermann for giving contributions to three Congressional candidates is hilarious in one respect: That MSNBC’s brass thinks of Olbermann as a journalist and their own network as a “news” network. Puh-leeeze.
The rules at NBC News about political contributions by employees are not only sound, they are pretty standard throughout the world of journalism. Most news organizations think it’s important that the reporters, editors and producers who are responsible to telling fair and balanced stories don’t create the appearance of bias by working …

I can’t resist.

Check it out! After a verrrrry long dry spell I decided to plant my face in front of a camera in honor of a guy who has inexplicably become the host of a national cable “news” show.
The problem with Eliot Spitzer being given the seat at CNN in prime time is not that he hired a hooker. Or liked to have sex with his long black dress socks on. It’s that he basically abused his authority as Governor the same way Richard Nixon did as President.
Remember Troopergate? Spitzer’s Administration directed …

It’s nights like last that make me miss covering politics full time. Election nights when voters get their crazy on and act like kids.
I’m mad! I want lower taxes! I’m not doing what the adults tell me to do! I want cookies for breakfast! And I don’t wanna get fat. And of course, I HATE YOU ALL!
The American press loves to place the voter on the highest pedestal. After all our little experiment in (sort of) direct democracy has, on balance, worked out pretty well over the last 230 odd …

Ten years ago when I was doing a story on same-sex marriage, an advocate for gay rights said legal gay marriage would take time but would eventually become commonplace in America. It’s beginning to look like he was right and if prior highly-charged civil rights struggles are any indication it’s happening very quickly by historical standards.
Amidst the arguments for and against the central battle comes down to whether America is a country where the majority rules. The Founding Fathers certainly did everything they could to prevent that from happening with …