Media Industry

Cellphones: Preserving a tool, combating a threat

2013-05-23 10:58:00

In less than a generation, mobile communications have evolved from a luxury item to an essential element of everyday life. With nearly 7 billion devices in use, mobile communications are nearly ubiquitous, impacting the way we work and live throughout the...

Congress, the tea party and the IRS: Sentence first, then the trial

2013-05-21 03:00:00

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama fired the head of the Internal Revenue Service, the first sacrificial lamb brought down after the alleged "targeting" of conservative political groups by the IRS. Mr. Obama declared, "Americans are right to be angry...

As contraband phones flood Baltimore jail, blocking technology comes online

2013-05-19 20:18:00

Maryland corrections officials are taking advantage of new technology designed to block the use of contraband cellphones by inmates — a problem at the heart of recent indictments at the Baltimore City Detention Center. In a program being used at...

State workers ready to untangle Memorial Day traffic snarls

2013-05-20 21:01:00

On Memorial Day weekends, Kim Yates and Albert Kullman measure success by speed. Yates steers her bright yellow tow truck toward trouble, with the goal of getting disabled vehicles out of the roadway or back in business before traffic has time to clog....

Grease catches fire in restaurant area at Wegmans

2013-05-20 14:54:24

A fire was reported at the popular Wegmans grocery store in Abingdon late Sunday evening, causing a brief evacuation of the store by employees and customers. No injuries were reported, and the store re-opened shortly after the fire was contained, a...

Somerset drops buyout of Smith Island homes

2013-05-15 17:16:00

A proposed buyout of Smith Island homeowners to help them escape future damage from tropical storms and rising waters has been dropped amid vocal resistance from residents of the low-lying community in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. The Somerset...

CNN, MSNBC, Fox show true colors in choice of stories this week

2013-05-13 08:27:00

Last week was a great one for cable news watching. Not because any one channel did such outstanding work, but rather because several stories clamored simultaneously for the camera’s attention. The choices that a channel makes in such situations are...

Obama administration assaults press freedom

2013-05-14 09:50:00

In Washington, as in any seat of power, most acts of folly begin with hubris. Government leaders, elected or appointed, usually don't intend to do the wrong thing, to overstep or cause harm, but they become so convinced, so certain of their purpose,...

Fighting homophobia by tracking down its source

2013-05-17 09:44:00

As a journalist, I'm a big believer in free speech, but also in the idea that bigotry and wrongdoing are fair game for scrutiny. Regardless of your political leanings, it's fair to say that publicly ridiculing others in a confrontational and...

Niall Ferguson's blooper

2013-05-09 00:00:00

At an investment conference last week, Harvard historian Niall Ferguson created a huge mess for himself. He glibly speculated that maybe because economist John Maynard Keynes was a childless, "effete" homosexual, he embraced a doctrine that favored...

Maryland enrollment soars in federal phone program

2013-05-07 14:36:19

Enrollment in a controversial program that provides free cell phone service to low-income families has increased faster in Maryland than any other state in the nation, jumping nearly 90-fold since 2008 — renewing scrutiny on Capitol Hill over its...

Baltimore Spectator pleads guilty to gun charge

2013-05-08 16:42:00

Frank James MacArthur, the local Internet personality known as the Baltimore Spectator, pleaded guilty Wednesday to possession of a short-barreled shotgun after a December standoff with police that he broadcast live. MacArthur's lawyer said his client...

Facebook has teamed up with Cisco to let retail customers log in to businesses' Wi-Fi networks by "checking in."

2013-05-10 09:18:23

News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey, seen here in 2011, said Wednesday the company wasn't set on turning Fox into a cable channel.

2013-05-08 16:45:23

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook Home at the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters on April 4.

2013-05-01 09:33:00