I am interested in what is sometimes called “the business of journalism,” which includes such topics as management practices, capital markets and tax policy as they relate to the news media and publishing generally.

Some of my publications include:

• “Business as Usual,” American Journalism Review, October 2002.

• “Profit Fever Revisited”and “Cashing In” American Journalism Review, March 2002.

• “Quality Tools Largely Absent From Nation's Newsrooms” and “Can Quality Tools Prevent Election Night Debacles?” Quality Progress, April 2001.

• “Writing the Unwritten Rules,” Folio:, Dec. 15, 2000.

For the summer of 2002, I received a grant from the university's Faculty Development Board to examine the way the newspaper industry has recently expanded its use of published corrections. Many editors believe that correcting mistakes will help them improve their credibility among readers, but my analysis, using a some concept borrowed from reliability testing, suggests that this may not be the case.

Also during the summer of 2002, a study of whether and how changes in ownership at the Oshkosh Northwestern have affected content received support from the university in the form of a student-faculty collaborative research grant to Patricia Brandl. Dr. Gary Coll is also working on this project.