In the past seven days, John Edwards has admitted to an extra-marital affair, Jon Corzine has gone to court to keep emails he exchanged with a former girlfriend and state-workers union leader private, and a judge issued a decision in the very public divorce trial of former Governor Jim McGreevey. When it comes to media coverage, how do we draw a dividing line between reporting that is relevant, important and legitimate -- and that which is sensational and voyeuristic?

Hall Institute Communications Director Richard A. Lee explored this issue last year in a presentation at a conference sponsored by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Read more in Private Lives of Public Officials: The Gray Line Between the Right to Privacy and the Public's Right to Know.

Small Business in NJ — More New Jersey firms could achieve high-impact status if they had the opportunity to invest in their business, instead of allocating more and more of their operating budgets to pay for increased regulatory burdens. This is one of the points set forth by the Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration in Business Growth Can Happen In New Jersey.

School Construction — Merely transplanting an ineffective educational bureaucracy into a new building will not deliver a quality education. So argues Jerry Cantrell, President of the New Jersey Taxpayers Association in If We Build It, Will They Learn?

The Olympics — Hall Institute Executive Director Michael P. Riccards sounds off about the Olympics in his current Politickernj column. Read Reform the Olympics to learn why Riccards feels I is time for changes in the Olympic Games.

Visit the Hall Institute online at WWW.HALLNJ.ORG to read these articles and other topical material:

• Riccards on New Jersey 2008 — A blog on our state's expanded role in the 2008 presidential race.
• Rich Lee on Media — Musings on those who make the news and those who report it.
• A School Funding Scrapbook — Commentary on education issues and policy.
• Hall Institute Forum — Our public affairs television program.
• Hall Institute Radio Podcast Forum — Audio discussion of timely and topical public policy issues.
• White Papers
• Research Essays
• Op-Ed Articles
• Press Releases

The Hall Institute is a non-partisan, not-for-profit foundation established to explore social, economic, educational and cultural issues. Since its inception in 2005, the institute has posted more than 400 white papers, research essays and op-ed articles on its website at www.hallnj.org in an effort to generate debate and discussion and develop solutions to the problems confronting the state and its residents.

The institute has conducted several special events, including NJ2008, a series of public forums on the state’s role in the 2008 presidential campaign. In 2006, the institute presented an online Virtual Debate among the candidates in New Jersey's U.S. Senate race. At present, we are sponsoring a Similar Virtual Debate for the state's 2008 U.S. Senate election.

The organization produces public affairs television, podcasts and blogs, and also has published two books -- The State of the Garden State and Reaction and Reform in New Jersey. Both are compilations of the major papers posted on its website. A third volume, Creating A Common Future: New Jersey and Public Policy, is posted on the Hall Institute website.

Earlier this year, the institute acquired the Bay Area Center for Voting Research, a non-partisan think tank based in Berkeley, California, leading to the start of the Hall Institute of Public Policy – California.

Located in Trenton directly across from the New Jersey State House, the institute was established by George E. Hall, a successful business executive and a leading philanthropist who lives in Middletown, N.J.