Will the FCC get its first female chief?

Whomever President Obama nominates to replace outgoing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, there will be political fallout.

FORTUNE -- There are lots of different issues that the Federal Communications Commission can affect: from media ownership rules to broadband deployment to whether broadcasters must pay insanely large fines for "wardrobe malfunctions" and people swearing during live awards ceremonies. But as observers try to guess who might replace outgoing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the issue MORE

The problem with Yahoo's potential Dailymotion deal

The site Yahoo may be buying is no dog. Users love Dailymotion. What about advertisers? It's complicated.

FORTUNE -- Even if you've heard of Yahoo's video portal, Screen, you probably rarely, if ever, have knowingly used it. That is one major reason Yahoo is reportedly in talks to purchase Dailymotion, the European video platform.

Eventually, Dailymotion could end up being a major profit center for Yahoo (YHOO). But in the short-term, Yahoo MORE

When it comes to Internet privacy, corporate lobbying goes only so far

Companies and lobbyists that support CISPA, a proposed cyber-security law that critics call intrusive, outspent opponents by a factor of 13 in House campaign contributions. Nevertheless, CISPA is losing traction.

FORTUNE -- Despite hardball lobbying and vast piles of money shoved toward members of Congress, it's proving to be extremely difficult to pass legislation that is opposed by advocates of privacy and Internet freedom. This was proved last year with the MORE

Where the Web has failed journalism

Nearly every argument that the Internet has made journalism better leaves out the most important kind of journalism there is.

FORTUNE -- Oh, good. Another "the Internet is saving journalism" apologia, this time by Matt Yglesias, Slate's economics writer. Yglesias, reacting to the dismal findings of this year's  State of the Media report from Pew Research, declared that "American news media has never been in better shape. That's just common sense."

As MORE

Dismal report on news industry offers insights on digital ads

Lots of grim statistics in a new report for magazines and newspapers from the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism - with a few rays of hope.

FORTUNE -- The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism's report, "The State of the News Media 2013" contains plenty of grim news about an industry that appears in some respects to be falling apart at the seams (along with a few rays of hope). But MORE

Bleacher Report founder hints at new project: 'I plan to make a fortune'

After lashing out at 'the haters,' Bleacher Report founder Bryan Goldberg announces vague plans for a new content company.

FORTUNE -- Bryan Goldberg, one of the founders of Bleacher Report, is planning to launch a new Web publication. "I'm starting another content company," he declared last week on PandoDaily, "and I plan to make a fortune."

What kind of "content company" Goldberg has in mind doesn't seem to really matter -- at MORE

AOL wants to be an 'arms dealer to Silicon Valley'

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has been on a roll - and he wants to make the most of it.

FORTUNE -- To AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, Silicon Valley is a "pig pile" where every company is copying every other company. "Everyone is putting out the same services, the devices have become more commoditized, and the platforms are the same," he said Thursday during a presentation at the Paley Center for Media in MORE

Twitter for news? Not so much

Less than 3% of adults tweet or retweet news links. It seems unlikely that Twitter will ever be a powerful news platform for the masses.

FORTUNE -- To hear certain Twitter enthusiasts (or as many of them are otherwise known, Twitter obsessives) tell it, the microblogging platform represents the future of news. In some ways, Twitter is already the present of news, since most big news organizations and many journalists use MORE

Much like Google, Microsoft also scans your email

Microsoft's ads make Google's email scanning sound sinister, but its own scanning - to block spam - isn't much different.

FORTUNE -- Microsoft's anti-Google "Scroogled" campaign is based largely on the contention that rival Google "goes through" private email in order to target ads at users based on keywords. And that's technically true. It's also technically true that Microsoft, too, "goes through" private email, though its intent is different: Microsoft's Outlook.com MORE

Microsoft abandons 'Scroogled' campaign (updated)

Just because Microsoft is moving beyond its rather nasty anti-Google campaign doesn't necessarily mean the campaign was a flop.

FORTUNE -- Microsoft is reportedly abandoning its highly negative anti-Google campaign, "Scroogled." It's hard to know whether the decision has anything to do with the immense backlash that occurred in the media, because the campaign wasn't working, or both.

The campaign darkly asserted that Google (GOOG) is monitoring your private emails—which it is, but MORE