MSNBC host Chris Matthews appeared on last night's episode of Jeopardy, and despite a valiant comeback, he fell short, losing to Charles Shaughnessy of Mad Men. Add Matthews to the list of cable news anchors who can't pull out a victory on the long-running quiz show. (more...)

Q&A CNN correspondent Soledad O'Brien returned from Haiti on Friday after several days of reporting about and following the story of a group of orphans from Haiti to Miami. And it wasn't just on TV - O'Brien gave a full play-by-play on her Twitter feed in real time. We spoke to O'Brien Friday afternoon for our "Back From Haiti" series, as she returned to New York - and to her family. (more...)

The year 2009 had many media bright spots, break-out stars, dominating networks and game-changing technologies.  The Mediaite 50 collects the finest, most exemplary innovators and influencers of the year, defining a media moment in time and setting the agenda as we move forward. (more...)

I see high chances that the next great report on Latinos in the United States will be entitled “What is it that Latinos want?” CNN’s documentary “Latino in America” (no official online video as of this writing) debuted last week to great expectations, but so far the response from Latinos has been mostly negative, toward the special and its host Soledad O’Brien. (more...)

A couple months ago, someone, wondering aloud, asked me if maybe gay rights would be the new issue that marks the time and generation we’re in. I didn’t so much as wonder aloud in reply as I did shout: “You mean that after the civil rights movement, you think the gay rights movement is next? I would say they two are the same.” (more...)

People will listen to a black person sing (Beyonce), watch a black person dunk a ball (LeBron), a black person act (Will Smith) and a black person be president (the O-Man), but when it comes to your average, shouty, loud, political gabfest, TV Land is often as white as pure Colombian Cocaine. Not surprising considering things only recently got all "gendered" up with additions like MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, CNN's Campbell Brown and FOX News' Greta Van Sustern (the original!). Heaven's to Besty, it would be too much to ask for post-racial America to give some minority a shot at screaming at people for an hour. (more...)