We can debate politics, football and news till the proverbial cows come home, but wow, when things turn to money, we–okay I–start feeling stumped like those dark days in algebra class. So we turned to CNN’s Christine Romans, who’s a bit of an expert in all things economy and personal finance. She hosts CNN’s Your [...]

If you’re a news geek like us, and you actually watched yesterday’s joint news conference at the White House with President Obama and Hu Jintao of China, you already know who Hans Nichols is. If you’ve got a real job of some sort and can’t be watching news conferences, maybe you heard how one reporter pinned down President Hu for seeming to dodge a question on human rights. That was Hans Nichols.

5QQ caught up with Jeff Brown while he was on assignment for PBS NewsHour in Haiti, producing a five-part series on how the country is doing a year after the massive earthquake. Brown’s been part of the NewsHour family for twenty years, as correspondent and a co-anchor of PBS’s nightly newscast–a program that he describes [...]

HLN anchor Richelle Carey recently talked to country star Tim McGraw about the issue of domestic violence, an issue she herself is passionate about (she’s on the board of Men Stopping Violence). “Talking about domestic abuse is very personal and he didn’t shy away from it,” she tells Mediaite.

Now Carey becomes the latest to answer our 5QQ – Five Quick Questions:

David Wilson was first introduced to the NBC audience through 2008′s Meeting David Wilson – as one half of the David Wilson duo starring in the documentary. He has since gone on to become managing editor of the NBC News site aimed at the African American community, TheGrio.com.

TheGrio.com celebrated its one-year anniversary last month, and Wilson was recently honored as one of The Network Journal‘s 40 Under 40. Now he’s the latest media personality to answer our 5QQ – Five Quick Questions.

While most rap superstars are content to go to the club and “make it rain,” KBTV weatherman Nick Kosir will also make sure you bring an umbrella. Nick is the star of several breakout Youtube videos featuring his hype, yet hilarious, rapping forecasts, and also a devoted family man and all-around nice guy. We asked him to take time out from gettin’ crunk about the summer funk to answer our 5 Quick Questions, followed by one of his singular performances.

New Jersey residents already know that the Newark Star Ledger, Tony Soprano’s paper of record, is also the home of TV critic extraordinaire Alan Sepinwall, while internet users know him from his terrific blog, “What’s Alan Watching?” As of today, though, Sepinwall’s TV columns and prolific blog entries will be available to everyone, all in one place, HitFix.com. To mark the occasion, we fired him our 5 Quick Questions.

From his old “Life As a Loser” column to founding Deadspin to his current spot at New York Magazine, Will Leitch has carved out quite a spot for himself in the online-media-scape. Now that he has a new book on the way, we caught up with him for our latest 5QQ installment.

Nick Douglas has spent a lot of time on the Internet. Douglas was the founding editor of Valleywag, Gawker Media’s Silicon Valley blog, and is the now senior editor of the AOL blog Urlesque. He also penned the definitive book on Twitter. Yes a book! This week he, along with artist Erin Fusco, launched Big [...]

Betty Liu is the Bloomberg TV anchor of “In The Loop,” live from 8-10amET each weekday. The program covers the all-important hours as the U.S. markets open, and the revamped Bloomberg TV line-up begins with Liu each day. Since joining the network in 2007, she’s interviewed Warren Buffett, Ted Turner and more. Now Liu becomes the first Bloomberg anchor to take part in our 5QQ – Five Quick Questions series.

Our latest 5QQ participant, Thomas Goetz, is author of the new book The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine. Former FDA commissioner Dr. David Kessler calls The Decision Tree “a game changer,” and Dr. Dean Ornish says that Goetz “writes more clearly and presciently about the future of health care than anyone on the planet.”

Liz Claman just returned from her first trip to Davos, Switzerland, covering the 40th World Economic Forum for Fox Business Network. The former CNBC anchor, and one of the biggest stars at the new FOX-run business network, interviewed industry leaders including Bill Gates, IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond, NYSE CEO Duncan Niederauer and even former Pres. Bill Clinton. She also moderated a panel called “Renewable Energy as an Engine for Economic Growth” which featured author Tom Friedman, among others. Now back in America, Claman is the latest media member in our 5QQ – Five Quick Questions series.

Andy Borowitz is hilarious. He has always been, of course, but now I get him in front of my face every day, cracking me up via his hi-larious Twitter feed (examples: “Airlines to Charge Passengers $50 for First Bomb” and “I just realized that Bush probably thinks the last decade was awesome”). I think he’s awesome, which is why I’m so delighted that he sat for our very first New Yecade installment of 5QQ – Five Quick Questions.

Rex Sorgatz is many things: Writer, editor, blogger, developer, consultant, authority on microcelebrity, wearer of exotic t-shirts, former web TV show Svengali, proud dog owner and surely one of the biggest consumers of media I’ve ever met (and don’t call him Shirley — though you can call him Fimoculous, online, if you’re referencing the blog [...]

Verena von Pfetten is Air America’s Senior Lifestyle & Entertainment Editor, and the former Living Editor at the Huffington Post, which makes her my former colleague and great friend. (She is also Canadian, as well as the former Verena van der Woodsen to my Blair Sklardorf). Verena had the good fortune, or misfortune, depending on [...]

I have never seen a movie by director Eli Roth. That’s not entirely true, I have seen clips from a movie by Eli Roth, since I saw (and loved) Inglorious Basterds which not only features Roth as the infamous skull-cracking Bear Jew, but also features his directorial handiwork on the film-within-a-film Nazi propaganda movie “Nation’s [...]

You may recognize Leslie Sanchez from CNN, since she was one of their A-team pundits during last-years long, crazy march to election day. Like the rest of us, she saw how the campaign of Hillary Clinton unfolded, how Michelle Obama was perceived and characterized, and the wrench thrown into the works late last August that [...]

It’s not really a secret around here that I am a big fan of New York Times op-ed columnist and author Gail Collins. Collins, whose witty and sharp columns often add a measure of levity to the Times op-ed pages — particularly during last year’s sometimes fraught campaign season — has brought those same talents [...]

John Hodgman is an expert. That’s what his books are about, that’s what he does on the Daily Show, that, at least, is what he thinks he is in those ubiquitous Mac vs. PC ads, which if they were a teen comedy would no doubt end up with him scoring the hot girl. It’s not [...]

Imagine, if you will, that you happened to be one of the many people (many in 2004 numbers anyway) watching the 2004 Democratic Convention. You happen to catch then Illinois State Senator Barack Obama’s roof-raising, career-making (to put it mildly!) speech and you decide, wow this is a guy going places. I should get a [...]

Micheline Maynard — “Micki” to her friends and Twitter followers — is the Detroit-based senior business correspondent for the New York Times covering autos and aviation, and the author of the just-released The Selling of the American Economy: How Foreign Companies are Remaking the American Dream. If you’re wondering if it’s a good book, consider [...]

Dylan Ratigan is the host of MSNBC’s “Morning Meeting,” which airs weekdays from 9 to 11. He went to MSNBC on the heels of a very successful stint hosting “Fast Money,” the CNBC show he co-created in 2006. Since joining MSNBC in late June, Ratigan has made a bit of a stir with his quick-wit and sometimes confrontational style. His interview with Betsy McCaughey over the Health Care debate got a lot of attention for being “one of the most brow-beating interviews in history as McCaughey called it.

Michelle Malkin, conservative pundit and author of Culture of Corruption, is the poster girl for the right’s no-holds-barred opposition to President Obama and the Democratic majority. While she’s not afraid to offend, she’s also not afraid to be disagreed with.

Vivian Schiller is the president and CEO of National Public Radio, which she joined at the end of 2008 after seven years with The New York Times Co., where she served most recently as SVP and General Manager of NYTimes.com. During her tenure at the Times, she oversaw a complete overhaul of the paper’s website and dismantled TimesSelect, an early attempt at charging for content online. Schiller’s leadership at NPR has also meant a redesigned website. Earlier this week, Schiller came to New York to participate in a debate with Journalism Online founder Steve Brill — “The Great Digital Debate: Free vs. Paid Content Online.” Now she answers our 5QQ — Five Quick Questions.

Deborah Norville‘s career in media has spanned from channel to channel, network to cable, morning to evening. She’s anchored evening newscasts at NBC and CBS, did a stint as the co-host of the Today show and The Early Show and hosted a show on MSNBC. But now she is the long-time host of the popular syndicated news show Inside Edition. She’s also the author of several books, from Children’s books to Nonfiction – the latest being “The Power of Respect: Benefit from the Most Forgotten Element of Success,” which came out this week. With back-cover blurbs ranging from Sean Hannity to Dr. Mehmet Oz, the book highlights what can be gained by “respect” – both professionally and personally. Now she’s the latest to give her thoughts for the Mediaite’s a href=”http://www.mediaite.com/tag/5qq/”>5QQ – Five Quick Questions.