The crisis in journalism lies in the decline of news stories that are costly to produce and that advertisers don't like to pay for. That's how the FCC's Steven Waldman summed it up yesterday at the Media + Technology Funding Outlook conference, held here at the Paley Center for Media. Presented by the organization Grantmakers in Film & Electronic Media, the conference brought folks from foundations including Knight, Ford, and Mozilla together with the likes of New America Foundation's Steve Coll, Democracy Now's Amy Goodman, ProPublica's Paul Steiger, and others dedicated to ensuring a future for quality journalism. And it offered a perfect forum for Waldman, a veteran journalist himself, to discuss the FCC report he authored.

When Vivian Schiller resigned as president and CEO of NPR in March, I knew it wouldn't be long before she landed. So, hats off to NBC News chief Steve Capus for being the one to grab her. The news last week that she is joining NBC News in the newly created role of chief digital officer speaks volumes, not only about Schiller's rare blend of news chops, tech smarts, and entrepreneurial zeal, but about NBC News's long record of investing in technology.

On Tuesday night, here at The Paley Center for Media, a boisterous cross-generation crowd of 'American Idol' and 'Glee' fanatics filled the Frank A. Bennack Jr. Theater to watch season finale episodes of these two iconic shows. Sitting in the audience with my three teenage kids, all avowed Gleeks (and one longtime Idol fan), I was struck by how well the intimate medium of TV translates to the big screen.

For all the talk about innovation, learning lessons from their cable counterparts, and embracing the technologies that are changing the way viewers watch television, this week's broadcast upfront presentations were largely a bold step into the past.

Microsoft's stunning $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype certainly begs the question: Can the software giant successfully integrate an operation that is truly antithetical to its own culture? It may be far from a sure thing, but I think the giant from Redmond, Wash., has a shot. The conventional wisdom is that Microsoft overpaid. But that hefty price tag may make sense given Microsoft's needs and the value Skype may bring over time.

Now that we've experienced blanket coverage of the death of Osama bin Laden, here's a rundown of who gained the most from a media perspective.

Any senior media executive who wants to know the truth about the so-called cord-cutting phenomenon should've been at Strauss Zelnick's home the other night, where a gathering of New York's digerati provided a handy focus group for how people are connecting with entertainment these days.

What can I say--I'm bullish about the future of journalism. I know the newspaper and TV news industries face serious challenges, but I also see inspiring signs of innovation and entrepreneurship in journalism that make me optimistic. I also saw these encouraging signs recently at my alma mater, Columbia University School of Journalism, where Sree Sreenivasan had organized a forum with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

With reports circulating that Katie Couric will soon depart the CBS 'Evening News' after a largely disappointing tenure as anchor, I have to eat a little columnist crow. Back in December 2004, when I was editor-in-chief of Broadcasting & Cable, I thought Couric was an inspired choice and that she truly had a shot at raising the 'Evening News' from a long stretch in the basement of the nightly-news race. I was wrong.