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'A civil war in slow motion' | What next for the Bhutto clan? COMMENTARY Nieman fellow Iason Athanasiadis examines the Bhutto dynasty amid the chaos and foreboding of life in Pakistan, with a focus on Fatima Bhutto, a niece of Benazir Bhutto. What role might she play in her country’s future? 
Special interests at work | Wisconsin: A case study in how corporations get the legislation they want COMMENTARY Telecom and broadband expert and activist Bruce Kushnick describes how model corporate bills get introduced and enacted in Wisconsin, to the detriment of the common good. (Second of two articles.)
The media's role | Why the economy is cratering: a guide for reporters COMMENTARY Martin Lobel and D. Jeffrey Hirschberg break down and examine the components of the economy’s plunge and urge the press to take a hard look at how Congress and the Administration plan to deal with it.
‘Don’t obsess over sampling error’ | Phil Meyer on what to look for in covering pre-election polls COMMENTARY The renowned journalist-pollster offers a 5-point checklist. He sees primaries as more difficult to poll than general elections and has no problem with focusing on the horse race.
Wrong questions | How not to conduct a presidential poll COMMENTARY From its bumper-sticker mentality to its gaping margin of sampling error for subgroups, the Des Moines Register's new poll of likely Democratic caucus-goers provides a great example of what not to do in an election year.
Justice at work | Don't bother them with news stories COMMENTARY Reporters in Iowa may be busy with the caucuses but they could have found time to cover a really questionable extortion case against a gay Democratic state senator.
Vietnam recalled | Is the military on the verge of crashing? COMMENTARY Longtime military reporter George Wilson says everything is in place for a breakdown of the armed forces, and Congress had better deal with the problem quickly. Wilson poses questions Congress needs to ask.
A reporter's view | Walter Pincus sees shield law as 'a bad misstep' COMMENTARY The House passed a proposed shield law for journalists overwhelmingly in October; the Senate Judiciary Committee has approved it and it is getting a generally good reception from editorial pages. But Washington Post reporter Pincus questions whether Congress should determine who is covered and who isn’t, thinks having judges decide if a story harms national security may be asking too much of them, and feels reporters and sources already have protection under the law.
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