Over the past few weeks, there have been fifty some-odd changes to my most active Cision MediaSource press list. Which means that a staggering 20% of the reporters I’m in touch with on a regular basis have recently switched beats, switched organizations, or simply switched professions.

We all know that most newsrooms are shrinking. In mid July alone, about 400 newsroom people lost their jobs at papers across the country, according to MediaLife. Among the organizations making cuts were the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.

About 20% of Newsweek's staff took a recent job buyout offer, according to a Wall Street Journal story today. That's a pretty big number, but nothing all that new in the news business.

The real news IMHO is the fact that magazines publishing on a weekly basis still exist at all.

Think about it. TIME. Newsweek. BusinessWeek. Just about the only thing that differentiates them is their weekly schedule.

Now, once upon a time this was indeed a differentiator. But today, with both up-to-the-minute news and context/opinion available from myriad sources, what's the point of a "weekly?" The Journal story picked up on this point somewhat:

Reposted from the Farrell Kramer Digital Images blog.

I happened to find myself outside NY Gov. Eliot Spitzer's office this morning in Manhattan just before his resignation.

Fortunately, I had my Nikon D300 and Sigma 10-20mm wide angle lens. I took some pictures of the media as they gathered, eagerly awaiting any sighting of the governor. I had to move on to a business meeting, but thought the scene was worth recording.

If you record it, they will come...

At least, if you're recording podcasts. A new study by eMarketer has found that the U.S. podcast audience rose to 18.5 million in 2007. It is expected to hit 28 million by the end of this year and 65 million by 2012.

Where the eyeballs -- or ears, in this case -- go, the dollars will follow. eMarketer sees podcast-related advertising in the U.S. more than doubling to $435 million by 2012.

A number of factors are driving the growth of the podcast-user base:

* Greater ease of consumption for podcast content
* Growing awareness of podcasting
* Terrestrial radio’s use and promotion of podcasting
* Increased penetration of portable players
* The evolution of smart phones and proliferation of affordable mobile data plans

And now, a story that practically tells itself...

The following ran in today's New York Times. It's the tale of a response from Target, the giant retailer, to blogger Amy Jussel of Shaping Youth, who had called to complain about a Target advertisement. You have to read it to believe it.

Target offered an e-mail response:

“Unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because Target does not participate with nontraditional media outlets,” a public relations person wrote to ShapingYouth.

“This practice,” the public relations person added, “is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest,” as Target refers to its shoppers.

A Chicago Tribune piece that talks about USA Today's upcoming 25th anniversary makes a point all communicators should think about -- particularly in today's challenging environment.

Recall, when it first came out, USA Today was derided as "McPaper" for putting out very short stories that couldn't possibly be substantive...

Here's the beef:

Elizabeth Spiers, a web luminary who has served as a blog editor, publisher and journalist, isn't terribly impressed with the online efforts of the establishment media.

She explains in a Marketwatch interview with Jon Friedman:

Old media have suffered self-inflicted wounds, Spiers contends, because they prefer to jump on a trend instead of trying to come up with something wholly original. Their mentality seems to be to throw money at a problem, rather than daring to be different.

"Their idea of doing experimental launches isn't experimental," she said. "The establishment media interest me if they're doing innovative things."

Her thoughts about specific outlets are interesting as well:

As the blogosphere progresses and becomes increasingly influential, communicators will need to find ways to reach out to bloggers just as we do to traditional journalists. This will become an integral part of media relations.

However, bloggers are not traditional reporters. Sending them press releases via a blast email will not turn out well.

The Lorelle on Wordpress blog has an interesting post titled "Promoting Your Wares to Bloggers." Here's one of her points:

Don't Waste The Time of a Blogger

If you want a bloggers attention, don't waste their time. Do not put a blogger on a mailing list they never asked to be on. Know the blogger and the blog you are approaching. Read their blog and their policies. If they clearly state, like I do, that they will not accept any requests for commercial link exchanges, don't even ask.

It's worth taking note that even as news professionals ponder their "broken business" with dismay, a few innovative news outlets are expanding, perhaps in a sign of things to come.

Call them -- citizens journalism -- outlets.

The first, launched last week, is Topix.com, formerly the news aggregator Topix.net. With a page for each zip code in the country and a policy allowing anybody to post or edit reports, commentary and photos about local happenings, Topix.com gives local citizens the power to determine what's news. As noted on WebWare, its editors are users; editors can write stories of their own, and non-editors can comment on stories and submit them.

On TIME magazine's website you can see the covers that the magazine prints in its various editions around the world. This is what April 2 offers:

Note that the edition on the left -- the one for U.S. audiences -- talks about the whether to teach the bible in public school. The rest of the world -- Europe, Asia and the South Pacific -- gets to read about the growing influence of Islamic militants in Pakistan.