Elisa Zied, author of "Nutrition at Your Fingertips," talks about childhood obesity and what public schools should be doing to help control the problem. Zied says it is imperative for schools to be leaders in facilitating healthy eating and fitness habits for their students, but says proper eating habits start at home. Zied says, "Together, it's the responsibility of schools, parents, government, and health experts (not to mention food and beverage companies) to work together in a positive, proactive way to promote healthful eating and hopefully someday reduce the severity of obesity in our nation's youth."

Read the Elisa Zied interview 

Some good news for a change ... former Cleveland Plain Dealer classical music writer Don Rosenberg lost his nutcase lawsuit against the paper for taking him off the beat and reassigning him to other cultural coverage.

He didn't sound too bothered afterward, telling Tom Diemer of Politics Daily "there's no way I was going to stand by and allow my integrity to be questioned." Unfortunately for Rosenberg, the basis of his own case was questioning the integrity of editor Susan Goldberg, claiming she had succumbed to outside criticism instead of rendering her own independent judgment.

I believe this is one reason why so many readers have soured on mainstream print media ... because they see pompous journalists putting themselves on a pedestal with special entitlements they deny to others. The money Rosenberg wasted in filing the suit would have been better spent in a journalism scholarship someplace.

On the Media Game blog is written by Gerry Storch.

Read the Jeremy Gilbert interview

Anthony DePalma, former New York Times reporter and foreign correspondent, discusses some of the decisions news organizations have made regarding the publication of leaked documents. Mr. DePalma asserts that "history has shown that the benefit of having a truly independent press far outweighs the negative consequences." He says, "Unless a solid argument can be made for keeping data or documents secret, everything should be made available to the public."

Read the Anthony DePalma interview

David Cuillier, a journalism professor at the University of Arizona, talks about how funding, negativity toward the field and weak journalism education are creating challenges for journalism departments. Cuillier firmly believes in the fundamental skills of journalism, regardless of the medium and says, "I saw way too many young journalists out there that had never heard of public records requests, that rely solely on PIOs for information. That is scary!"

Read the David Cuillier interview

I am attending the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference in Denver. It's "the" event for professors of journalism and communication. For those who are Twitter literate, I've been updating you on the conference via hashtags: AEJMC, AEJMCSM and AEJMCSITE

Needless to say, two years of conducting interview series on the future of journalism have thoroughly prepared me for this conference. Professors are struggling with the same issues we have been discussing on OurBlook, including:

Mia Moody, journalism professor at Baylor University, talks about how her school is adapting to the new media landscape. She warns against the top-down approach to teaching and suggests that professors communicate with their students and listen to what they have to say. Moody says that because the journalism field will be more social & entrepreneurial in the future, students will need to be more creative, innovative and self-motivated.

Read the Mia Moody interview

Lawrence Meyer, former Washington Post reporter and author of "The Final Edition," talks about the importance of fact-checking anonymous tips and other information found on WikiLeaks. Meyer says news outlets should act responsibly by consulting the government before publishing any sensitive information about the military.

Read the Lawrence Meyer interview

David Slayden, executive director of Boulder Digital Works at the University of Colorado at Boulder, says journalism departments need to adapt to the changes in the industry by offering multimedia and technology training. He says professional internships, real-world experience and a good understanding of digital media are necessary skills for the current and future journalist.

Read the David Slayden interview

Anyone who reads the media regularly gets shockproof after a while ... until, that is, a story comes out that reveals the citizens of the tiny town of Bell, Calif., were unwittingly paying their city manager more than $787,000 a year, the police chief $457,000 and most of the City Council close to $100,000 each. Now, that's shocking.

This was a well-kept secret until the Los Angeles Times blew the whistle. The header for a column by media writer James Rainey noted that although the Times is now "shrunken," it nevertheless "still had the resources" to unearth a story like this.

No, the proverbial lonely blogger typing away in his mother's basement didn't do it ... a metro paper with clout did. And that's why I so strongly believe that despite their flaws, the mainstream media must survive as a necessary element in maintaining our democracy.

Perhaps the Bell city manager and police chief would agree with me, as they were forced to depart after their salary ripoffs were exposed.

On the Media Game blog is written by Gerry Storch.