Natalie “Talia” Jomini Stroud is an associate professor of Communication Studies and assistant director of the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation at the University of Texas at Austin.

It’s a dilemma that almost every general-assignment reporter, producer or editor faces: A new, complex topic and a fast-approaching deadline. As specialty beats are cut back, it’s a situation that is more and more common in newsrooms today.

Since the end of the Cold War and the rise of global communications networks, there has been an ongoing debate about the “flattening” of world markets and cultures and the degree to which integration among nations may or may not accelerate.

While youth bullying is as old as humankind, digital media have introduced new bullying practices and amplified the impacts. In response, schools and lawmakers have enacted a variety of preventative measures and punishments for offenders.

The Pentagon Papers were a top-secret history of U.S. involvement in the brutal conflicts of Southeast Asia. Commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1967 and completed in 1969, they were leaked to the press in 1971 by Daniel Ellsberg, a government employee.

Juliette Kayyem is a national leader in homeland security and crisis management. When she served as President Obama’s assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, she played a key role in the government’s response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Previously, she had been the homeland security adviser to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.