Alan Merten, President of George Mason University, talks about higher education's role in training the next generation of information technology professionals. He is joined by guest host Jill Aitoro, a Senior Reporter at NextGov.com.

Ellen Miller explains how the Sunlight Foundation uses the Internet to provide transparency in government. The company, a non-partisan organization, explores how money, lobbying and other relationships influence the political process and makes the information easily accessible to Americans.

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell (R) joins the Communicators to discuss the changes at the FCC and its efforts to bring more transparency to the agency. He also explains the Commission's role in expanding broadband in the United States.

The Communicators continues coverage from the 2009 Digital Media Conference in Northern Virginia. The conference features leaders in the world of new media, and was joined by Bill Bradford of Fox Digital Media and Neil Budde of DailyMe, among others.

The Communicators visited the annual Digital Media Conference and spoke with key attendees such as Ned Sherman, Digital Media Wire, CEO & Publisher; Kuk Yi, Best Buy Capital, Vice President; Rick Cotton, NBC Universal, Exec. Vice President & General Counsel; and Dina Kaplan, Blip.TV, Co-Founder.

Following the “cyber attacks” on government and commercial websites in the U.S and South Korean, James Lewis discusses how the federal government can strengthen and protect vulnerable computer systems. He is also the head of CSIS’s “Commission on Cybersecurity for the 44th Presidency,” which released its’ report earlier this year.

Attendees at the annual National Cable and Telecommunications Association (NCTA) meeting take look at some of the new telecommunications technology that was on display. Commerce Sec. Gary Locke and Frank Gallagher, Cable in the Classroom, Education and Media Literacy Director are among the guest interviews.

This week, Universal Music Publishing Group Chairman & CEO David Renzer shares how the music industry is being influenced by digital music, the Internet and current copyright policy. He is joined by guest host Rebecca Hoffman, BNA’s Media Law Reporter, legal editor.

Andrew Feinberg, deputy editor of BroadbandCensus.com, joins us for a discussion on FCC Chairman candidate Julius Genachowski. Genachowski gave his perspective on several telecommunications issues during a Senate confirmation hearing, including the expansion of broadband, and media ownership rules. Also see clips from the confirmation hearing as well as analysis by guest reporter Fawn Johnson of Dow Jones Newswires.

Richard Sarnoff, president of the media company Bertelsmann Inc., discusses how the influence of digital technology is changing the publishing industry. He also goes over the issues involved in the recent agreement between publishers & Google's Book Search program and copyright policy in the United States.