We recently talked with him about the differences between blogging and mainstream news, his friendship with Perez Hilton, and what he hopes to achieve with his online writing.

AE: You have an impressive background in mainstream media, having worked for NBC, ABC and even Fox. AfterElton.com recently covered openly gay men in the world of journalism.

RM: I saw that.

AE: What was your experience like working for the big network news agencies?

RM: My experience working in television news, network and local, was actually very positive. I worked in news for a long time, from '94 until 2004, in different cities like Chicago and New York, and for several networks. It was very positive.

In every newsroom or studio I worked in, I was gay, I was out to the people I worked with, and it was never an issue. There were other gay reporters, anchors, producers, editors and such — a lot more people than you realize as you showed in your piece, which was very good by the way.

News is a lot more serious on television, so you find fewer personalities who are out, less on-air talent who are out, at least publicly. Not to say they aren't out professionally. There might be a number of reporters or anchors in this newsroom or that newsroom who everyone knows is gay, but they're not public with it … because of that whole issue of covering the news. You don't want the reporters or anchors, or even myself as a writer or producer, to inject too much into the story. If anything, if I had any problems, it was more race-related.

AE: Part of that series focused on Fox News and generated a lot of criticism of gay reporters and executives who work for what many feel is a very homophobic organization. Any thoughts on that?

RM: I did see that recently. … I'm still sitting on the fence about that one. I worked at the Fox-owned and operated affiliate in Chicago. I briefly did some work for Fox News when it was just fledgling, way back in the late '90s. At that time, it wasn't what it is today, so I didn't have any negative experiences.

Now in terms of how do I feel about people working there? I guess you can look at it two ways. On the one hand, if there are people working in the newsroom who are out, and they're working to lobby for change from within, there could be a producer or managing editor or a writer who can look at the copy, and the copy might have a homophobic twist to it, and they could change the copy.

In that way, they're working for change. Those types of things happen every day, and the average person watching would never know. That's the advantage of being behind the scenes.

On the other hand, if they are working in an operation like that and they aren't using it to their advantage or our advantage, then they aren't really doing very much. They're just working there. I think someone made a joke in the [AfterElton.com] comments that Fox staffers made up a large contingent of NLGJA [National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association]. I could believe that. Quite often, when people work in an environment where they are oppressed, they have to make a statement.

As an anecdote, when I worked at an NBC-owned station in Chicago, it had a huge contingent of black employees in all levels of management. Many of the black employees at that station did not go to the National Association of Black Journalists meetings.

AE: They were in a comfortable environment.

RM: They were in a comfortable environment. The meetings were held in the same building and held monthly. I worked there for four or five years and only attended a couple of them. It wasn't that I had anything against the NABJ, personally, but I was more integrated into that station, so I didn't feel the need.

AE: So how did you come to be a blogger?

RM: I came to blogging because when I discovered the gay blogosphere, I saw that there was a marked lack of content specifically targeting black gay men. There were a lot of black blogs, at that point, and a lot of gay blogs, but there weren't many that were black and gay, especially with the type of sensibility that I gravitate towards: newsy with some features, tight, well-written, as opposed to a more activist [type] of blog.

Or just rants. Most of the [other blogs] were ranty and political, and I wanted something a little different. So instead of writing letters or complaining about why this blog or that blog doesn't have more black faces, I decided to do it myself.

AE: How would you compare the blogosphere to mainstream journalism?

RM: I kind of wouldn't. I wouldn't make any direct comparisons, because it's apples and oranges.

Certainly they both feed each other. It's a symbiotic relationship. Many bloggers go to mainstream media sources and link to stories, add more information, critique them or find some nuance, which is helpful. People in mainstream media look to bloggers for the same thing, for stories, nuances, directions, etc.

There's a different code of ethics on both sides. Mainstream media sources allegedly operate under a nonbiased perspective, whereas with a blog, you can obviously be as biased as you want. It's your site.

What happens is that lines get crossed or blurred. I do think the larger bloggers operate under a different code of ethics. I operate my site more like a newsroom. That's not to say I'm not biased. I'm not going to say I don't have an opinion, but I do try to give that extra information, look at it from both sides.

AE: What do you think blogging gets right and wrong?

RM: This is just my opinion, and everyone has a different perspective. Some people don't like my blog because my background is mainstream media, and then some people do like that.

What I do like about the blogosphere is that it allows [the chance] to grow and share information. It's opening up a lot of doors for opportunities, resources and activism. And God, it's helping so many people come out of the closet. It can reach gay men who don't live in major urban centers, who live in rural areas or suburbs, or in some of our more conservative environments. They can feel free to express themselves and talk and network and meet other people. When I came out, which wasn't even that long ago, or maybe it was — late '80s or so — there weren't blogs then.

Some of the problems with blogging that I see is — it's basically a microcosm of society when you're looking at a blog. It's a snapshot of society or culture or an aesthetic of where we are today. Quite often, that snapshot ... is unpleasant since people tend to talk differently when they're behind a keyboard.

You see that at AfterElton. People will write comments, and some of the things they say — for instance with Doug Blasdell from Bravo's Work Out … many of them were horrendous. Many of the postings I saw around the blogosphere were just very, very raw.

I think the problem that we're looking at is when people have a keyboard and a broadband modem and, of course, the send key, and they've preserved themselves for posterity. Years ago, when someone died, they said the things they said behind closed doors. It seems we've lost that line.

AE: What do you think of bloggers like Perez Hilton?

RM: I love Perez. We're buddies actually. I think Perez gets a lot of grief, but I think there's a market for Perez — obviously there is. Just look at his readership. Some people are going to say just because people are reading him doesn't mean he's right, and that could be a good argument, but I would say if so many people are reading him, he's addressing a need.

I look at the blogosphere as I look at supply and demand. That's what he is. He has a product, and people are asking for it. I think some of the things Perez says, some people might find a little edgy, but I will say what he does in terms of the community — he sort of needled Lance Bass into coming out, and Neil Patrick Harris and T.R. Knight too, if I'm not mistaken. We can look at that as a good or as a bad.

AE: What do you think of how he has handled the question of popstar Mika's sexuality? He seems to be treated him very differently than Bass or Harris.

ROD: That's certainly an interesting question. It's being asked my many within the virtual community and by some journalists. One would assume that Mika's coy attitude around his sexuality — combined with an a non-stop marketing to gay audiences — would infuriate Perez Hilton. However, as you know, Perez's response has been just the oppoiste. Curiously so. Perhaps it boils down to access: Perez is more or less Mika's de facto publicist and promoter, and he has been involved with Mika since the ground floor. Assuming that Mika is gay you can be sure that Perez will have the exclusive.

AE: Is blogging more important to the gay community than the straight community?

RM: Absolutely! You know about the whole digital divide, that gay people spend more time online and shop more online and things like that. I think blogging is just another facet of gay culture. In terms of importance, a lot of news about gay culture, gay news and gay rights — the gay blogs are breaking those stories.

AE: Rod 2.0 is a great mix of hard news, infotainment and attractive men. What do you see your blog's primary role as being?

RM: Thank you. The primary role of the blog is to inform and entertain. I don't hope to do any more than that.

I look at it from my background in television. I want things to be tight, concise and readable, with interesting visuals and good headlines, and copy people can read while they're drinking their coffee, or on their lunch hours, or when they're home at night surfing the web. I hope people will be informed and entertained.

There is some activism there, but it's not meant to be overwhelming. There are already bloggers who are activists, Wayne Besen or Keith Boykin, who do so much more of a better job.

AE: What's the biggest story you've broken on the blog?

RM: The biggest story I had was something I didn't think would be that big, but remember the Tim Hardaway story? I had a heads up from a contact at the NBA that they were going to announce sanctions against him, reprimand him, ban him or whatever.

So I just put up a simple item about how Dwayne Wade and Shaq had jumped to the defense of gay men. … I included that information along with the tip. It was information that was already out there, and it was just a two-paragraph story, but it was one of my biggest traffic days ever. It wasn't that big of a deal, I didn't think, but it went across the entire blogosphere and mainstream media and even some TV stations, and somebody from NBA publicity. I guess they just appreciate that people in the gay blogosphere were saying that not all NBA players were homophobic.

AE: What's the most controversial story?

RM: The day before New Year's last year, in December of 2006, there was a shooting in Chicago at a house party of black gay men, and five black gay men were shot at the party. It went across the blogosphere like a tidal wave, because the original theory was that it was a homophobe or some gang bangers who came inside and shot up the house.

That turned out to not be true. It turns out it was another unfortunate example of black-on-black violence. I think many activists were disappointed because that was the case, but it was a huge story nonetheless, because it was a reminder to black gay men that this is something we need to address.

AE: What's your proudest moment as a blogger?

RM: My proudest moment on the blog doesn't have anything to do with traffic or numbers or advertising.

It happened about two months ago. I was at a Starbucks in New York , working on my laptop, and there was a celebrity there, an actor, and he was cute — but anyway, I conducted a little interview. There were these two guys looking through the window watching me talking to the actor, acting excited.

After the interview, I'm walking through the door, and the two guys ran up to me. I thought they were going to say, "Isn't that so-and-so from Noah's Arc ?" And they said, "Aren't you Rod McCullom from Rod 2.0?" And I was just shocked for a moment. Being a producer, I'm used to being behind the scenes.

I say, "Yeah, I'm Rod McCullom ." And the one guy said, "I just want to thank you so much." I said, "For what?" He said, "I'm from Virginia , and I came up here to live because life was so hard for me after I came out. The only thing I had to keep me in touch with the world, and knowing that there were other men who were black and gay and who could be a role model, was through your blog."

He was almost crying, and it was just so touching. I'm so glad he came up and talked to me, because it made me feel so good about myself and about the blog. You know, there are days when I don't want to do the blog. I don't want to update five or six times a day. I don't want to do that all the time. It reminded me why I was doing it in the first place. I didn't have those resources when I was young. It was just so uplifting.

AE: You're also an aspiring novelist, right? Can you tell us about the books you're working on?

RM: Yeah! It's interesting you would ask me about that. I just had a meeting with an agent and a publisher just last week, so you might be hearing some news about that soon. It's a coming-out story with a twist.

AE: You also have a teleplay in the works. What's it about?

RM: One of the producers at an NBC crime drama had talked to me about doing some writing for them. I'll probably be writing something for them later this year.

AE: Congratulations on your new projects! It sounds like you have a lot of oars in the water, and you're doing well on all of them.

RM: Thank you!