Until now, CBS News on Logo has been quick bite of information that comes in during commercial breaks on gay network Logo (this site's parent company). However, after giving us the Visible Vote presidential forum and a special on gay Latino issues, CBS News on Logo is graduating into full weekly half-hour newsmagazine. The show will continue to be hosted by Jason Bellini with reporting from Itay Hod and Chagmion Antoine.

The program will mix headlines with deeper coverage of current issues like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and HIV/AIDS. The series will also take a gay look at pop culture. Next week's debut will include an interview with John Waters, a day in the life of blogger Andy Towle and a profile of lesbian favorite folk singer Erin McKeown.

For a network that's been around for only two-and-a-half years, I've been impressed with how much it has grown in that time. There's a good amount of original programming and introducing a show that regularly discusses gay issues will round out Logo's content nicely.

A big shout-out to the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) from all of us here at AfterElton.com. For AfterElton.com’s recent "Gay Newsmen – A Clearer Picture" series, all the gay journalists who agreed to participate had attended NLGJA events, and the existence of NLGJA is part of what made those articles possible.

Founded in 1990, the NLGJA is a big reason that in 2007 there are a lot more media stories fairly covering LGBT issues. The NLGJA mentors up-and-coming gay journalists, trains reporters how to increase sensitivity to gay issues in their newsrooms, and helps promote workplace equality.

And NLGJA members are instrumental in getting huge news organizations to adopt same-sex domestic partnership benefits – as NBC did just a couple years ago, the notoriously conservative Clear Channel recently adding those benefits as well.

NLGJA president Eric Hegedus told AE that off the top of his head he can’t think of any journalist for whom coming-out jeopardized their career. In fact, Hegedus thinks “once you’ve got that personal weight lifted off your shoulders (by coming out), it can empower you.” If you want to attend an NLGJA convention, get more info or resources, or find out how to become a member, check out the NLGJA website: www.nlgja.org.

As a part of AfterElton.com's Gay Newsmen series, contributing writer James Hillis will be providing daily interviews with gay newsmen here on the blog.

When Thomas Roberts was hired by CNN at age 29 from a small local market he said it “was beyond my wildest dreams.” Right off the bat, Roberts recalled, “I was covering everything from the Olympics to technology to the war on terror.”

An anchor and investigative reporter at NBC Norfolk, Virginia Beach at the time, it may have been an Edward R. Murrow Award winning documentary Roberts did about child welfare issues that caught CNN’s attention. “It was something I felt strongly about,” said Roberts of the documentary, his intention being “to bring something to light that wasn’t getting the coverage it deserved.”