Mark Rice

Professor and chair of the Department of American Studies, St. John Fisher College, Rochester, New York

One of the great achievements of the Internet has been the explosion of websites, blogs, etc. dedicated to politics and the news. This very same achievement, however, has paradoxically resulted in the erosion of a common frame of reference for understanding the news.

Eric Alterman

Distinguished Professor of English, Brooklyn College, City University of New York

Few works in all of American history have enjoyed a greater impact, whether measured in political, cultural, or psychological terms, than Friedan's combination historical novel, manifesto, and cri de coeur.

Peter Dreier and Richard Appelbaum

If journalism's role is to not only report the facts but also to expose wrongdoing, then the Times deserves kudos, and a Pulitzer Prize, for documenting and explaining the emergence of Bangladesh's new sweatshop economy as a major source of the clothing that American and European consumers buy every day.

Wray Herbert

Author, 'On Second Thought: Outsmarting Your Mind's Hard-Wired Habits'

The elderly have never been honored in American society. They have more often been stereotyped, stigmatized and pitied. And according to Princeton University psychological scientist Susan Fiske, this unfair ageist stereotyping could become even darker with the new influx of seniors.

Elliott Negin

Director of News & Commentary, Union of Concerned Scientists

Given the Heartland Institute's penchant for misrepresenting science, you would think reporters would be curious about who finances its work. You would be wrong.

Art Markman, Ph.D.

Executive Editor, Cognitive Science; Psychology and Marketing Professor, UT Austin; Director, the Program in the Human Dimensions of Organizations

What kinds of people are prone to reject the scientific evidence for global climate change? This question was explored in the May 2013 issue of Psychological Science. These researchers suggest that people typically engage in motivated reasoning.

Brad Bell

Co-creator, showrunner and star, 'Husbands'

In your recent speech at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center you said, "We need to create an atmosphere that encourages people to speak up, so we get this right." This letter is me speaking up, with the hope that we can get this right.

Rev. Ian Punnett

Author, 'How To Pray When You're Pissed At God'

Nothing can mitigate the profound sadness of the deaths of dozens of people. But the families of all the victims would be right in wishing that there had been a few more miracles to go around.

Benjamin Solomon

Former Editor-in-Chief, Next Magazine

The year following graduation was a bit of a lost one as I tried to finally come to terms with my new identity. But nothing really clicked until I got a job at Next Magazine. Suddenly, my world had direction.

Lindsay Hoffman

Professor of Communication and Political Science, University of Delaware

In 11 years, I will remember feeling the same sadness, fear, and also interest about the Boston bombings as I did with the 9/11 attacks. However, my experience when I was nine and my experience now with media coverage of tragedy are very different.

William Bradley

Political Analyst, NewWestNotes.com

Where will Obama be if his administration's conventional methods are not up to the task of cutting through controversies that are engendered, at least in part, by reliance on conventional methods? That's when things could get very interesting.

Geoffrey R. Stone

Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago

Striking the right balance between the government's legitimate need for confidentiality, the press's legitimate need to obtain information about government action, and the public's "right to know" what its representatives are up to, is a difficult and delicate task.

Allen Frances

Professor Emeritus, Duke University

May has been a dispiriting month for psychiatry and a sad and worrying time for our patients. Three of the leading mental health organizations have squabbled among themselves -- promoting silly and competing 'paradigm shifts' while ignoring the unmet needs of our patients.

Susan Mercandetti

Vice President, ABC News

As a "Nightline" producer, I traveled all over the world covering interesting stories, leaving unused theater tickets and broken dates behind. There was always tomorrow.

Nico Lang

Blogger; correspondent, WBEZ

Two-thirds of our most hated celebrities are women, and females count for seven of the top 10 slots. What makes Gwyneth Paltrow 20 times more hateable than Chris Brown?

Shelley Ross

Emmy Award-winning Producer, Director; Founder of Daily Xpress News and Pop Culture Blog

Disclosure of something as personal as having had both breasts removed is quite a daunting decision for many reasons, least of which is fear of being seen as "less of a woman," as even a world-class sex siren felt obligated to note.

Robert Scheer

Editor, Truthdig.com; Author, 'The Great American Stickup'

Shredding privacy is the essence of Tumblr's appeal to Yahoo, and even though it has said it will retain the social networking site's founders in key positions, one way or another that very personal data will be mined and inevitably fall into what users will discover to be the wrong hands.