Two new initiatives from NBC News and MSNBC are turning the focus on education – beginning today with a series of reports and segments from anchor Tamron Hall.

“Making The Grade” kicks off today, but the larger push comes in September when NBCU as a whole looks at Education Nation.

So says BusinessWeek. The NBA Hall of Famer is reportedly in talks to purchase Johnson Publishing Company, a publishing concern that prints Ebony, Jet and other related titles and books. SInce retiring from basketball, Earvin “Magic” Johnson has built a net worth in excess of $700MM via Magic Johnson Enterprises, which includes Theater, real estate and promotional businesses among others.

Black History Month is, among other things, a media event. And believe it or not, there was a time when the cover of a magazine was considered an unparalleled promotional powerhouse. Following is a collection of covers that feature an artist, personality, historical event, or publication of significance in black history. This series is co-produced by Linda Rubes of Fortune magazine. View the full list here. (Cover at left: Time, April 6, 1970, painting of Jesse Jackson by Jacob Lawrence, for a special issue on “Black America 1970.”)

Danny.

I just don’t get it.

In your piece “A Retrospective: 28 Media Leaders Who Died This Decade,” you acknowledge the contributions of several well-known media figures who have died since 2000. Nice names. Good people. But they are all WHITE!

You couldn’t think of ANYONE who wasn’t white? Really?

Talking Points Memo — the award-winning political blog with a knack for investigative reporting — is the latest news outlet to join the White House press pool. But some conservatives are upset that a progressive blog like TPM would get that kind of access, especially after the recent battle between Fox News and the White House. “Would anyone seriously suggest that TPM, the Huffington Post and Salon are more objective than Fox News?”