No surprise here. But Steve Rubel's post in his terrific blog, Micro Persuasion, had me thinking about my own fate back in 2001. Yes, yes, after 9/11. As a trained photojournalist, I found it bloody hard to find work and even in those outlets that did hire me on as a freelancer things were slow. Nevermind the countless assignments I shot for Indian magazines out of sheer desperation. Now this news.

Well, as I said I am not surprised. Being an effective blogger or a savvy public relations officer has more of a future for those passionate about telling the truth or spinning it. If you want to have anything even remotely do do with stuffy old journalism, good luck.

Good God, did I just say that? I might have just shot myself in the foot.

Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers' Guide from the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University is now out. Get it here.

“Journalists should have less of a concern of what is and isn't “journalism,” and more of a concern for important, focused information that is useful to people's lives and helps them understand the world. A newspaper ought to be that: a fair look at current, important information for a readership.”

Following in the footsteps of the Bivings Report, is Adrian Holovaty's lucid take on how newspapers and their websites must change or wither away.

Yeah, that caveman would be me. Awol, I have been. Left coast, I have been. Yoda, I am not. But check out the The New York Times online. It has been redesigned.

I love the “blog-like” feel to the page, though it is presumably still a newspaper that is online. The site's clean design is a welcome one. Makes for faster reading and definitely a site to visit on a daily basis.

The deadline for SAJA‘s 2006 journalism scholarships is this Saturday, April 1. Details are available here.