The internet is slowly closing in on television as Americans’ main source of national and international news. Currently, 41% say they get most of their news about national and international news from the internet, which is little changed over the past two years but up 17 points since 2007. Television remains the most widely used source for national and international news – 66% of Americans say it is their main source of news – but that is down from 74% three years ago and 82% as recently as 2002.

Editor's Note: This commentary previously ran on AOL News and is being republished here with the express permission of the author.

At sunset every New Year's, we make a bonfire at Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown, Mass. The crazy curve of the cape affords a disorienting western view of sunset over water. And it has always been my contention that Provincetown, on the tip of Cape Cod, is so far east, it is actually in a different time zone. The sun sets at 4 p.m.

The "new economy" has presented many of us with a lot of challenges this year. Dollars are being stretched in the most innovative ways.

According to the Human Right Campaign, 78 percent of LGBT people are more likely to do business with companies that are known to have gay friendly work places.

So the word "value" is about more than just money. It’s about supporting businesses that value us as a community. That‘s one reason why Diversity Platinum Rewards Card was launched last month.

Bob Witeck, CEO and co-founder of Witeck-Combs Communications and author of Business Inside Out, shares his views on America's LGBT economy with dot429.

You originally launched your business in 1993 to help guide corporations attempting to understand and enter the LGBT market. What inspired you to take that leap?

Bob: I have spent most of my career as a professional communicator. For over a decade, after college here in Washington DC, I served on Capitol Hill as a Senate press secretary.