News Sources: Writers' Strike and Jay Leno

"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno could face disciplinary action from the Writers Guild of America for writing his monologue while the nearly 2-month-old writers strike continues. The WGA has been on strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers since Nov. 5, halting the production of many TV shows. Among other outstanding issues, writers and producers are fighting over how much compensation writers should receive when TV shows and movies are streamed or downloaded over the Internet. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org databse of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including the following (click on names for contact infomation):

Jeffrey M. McCall - Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences, DePauw University - A former broadcaster himself, Dr. McCall has analyzed the content of television news broadcasts, manages the student-run radio station and has written nationally on issues related to the media. His special area of interest is media coverage of politics.

Janet C. Goulet - Professor of Economics, Wittenberg University - Goulet is former director of Center for Labor Management Cooperation, and has been published in the Journal of Consumer Credit Management and the Journal of Behavioral Economics. She has servced as an arbitrator for the Ohio Employee Relations Board, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the American Arbitration Association.

Gary Chaison - Professor of Industrial Relations, Clark University - An expert in collective bargaining, labor movements and union organizing extensively, Chaison is one of the most widely regarded scholars on unions worldwide.

Point Guard Scores Political Coup

The the Sunnyside, Washington, City Council is about to dramatically change its composition, after a Whitman College student's research showed its at-large voting system kept Hispanic residents off the council. The studies by Ian Warner, a 2007 graduate who was a point guard on Whitman's basketball team, attracted the attention of the U.S. Justice Department.

FCC Serves Up Corporate Welfare to Big Media

The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Dec. 18 decision to "relax" media ownership rules opens the door to a new wave of consolidation that will further erode the quality of U.S. news media, says DePauw communications professor Kevin Howley. He says the ruling is corporate welfare allows big media to get even bigger, while discouraging competition, diversity and independent voices.

News Sources: New Hampshire & Iowa Vote

The Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses and the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary mark the start of a highly compressed presidential nomination process that some observers say could be wrapped up as early as February. But on the eve of these crucial contests, polls show the outcomes of the races in both parties and in both states appear to be anybody's guess. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including the following (click on names for contact information):

Barbara Trish - Associate Professor of Political Science, Grinnell College - Since joining Grinnell, Trish has examined and researched the Iowa Caucus system as well as the "coordinated campaign" efforts in the Midwest. She has served as president of the Iowa Conference of Political Scientists (2000-2001) and is active in party and campaign politics.

Emmett H. Buell Jr. - Professor of Political Science, Denison University - An expert on the New Hampshire primaries, Buell is author of Nominating the President 1991 and wrote the "invisible primary" chapter in recent book, In Pursuit of the White House. He is the director of the Richard G. Lugar Program in Politics and Public Policy at Denison, Lugar's alma mater.

Douglas I. Hodgkin - Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Bates College - Hodgkin is a specialist in American government, political campaigns/elections, public-opinion polling, political action committees and elections. He and his students at New Hampshire-based Bates College conduct regular opinion polls on issues. He is active Republican with valuable insight into the evolution and current state of the Republican Party.

War During the Holidays

The American media suspended most of the bad news from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during the holiday season. But DePauw's Ken Bode spotlights an NBC News producer who understands that war does not take a holiday.

Bhutto's Dream for Pakistan

Ten years before her assassination, former Pakistan President Benazir Bhutto visited DePauw University and told an audience there that she foresaw a new millenium "in which the gap between rich and poor states narrows, where we attack literacy and promote human rights universally... where the birth of a girl child is celebrated as much as a boy child, where every child is planned, supported and educated."