LocalNewser standupkid's dispatches from the frontlines of local news

Will Report for Food

We may not be exactly beloved by the community at large, but damn are we journalists resourceful, especially when the mortgage has got to be paid.

A group of laid off Los Angeles Times journalists has banded together to create The Journalism Shop, a collection of stellar reporters left on the beach by cutbacks and buyouts who want just one thing:  to work.  "The Los Angeles Times' loss can be your gain," the site's 'About Us' reads. "Our interests range from freelance magazine journalism to book writing, deep project research to report design and writing. We encourage you to tap into our vast reservoir of experience and skill to bring to your own projects the caliber of journalism that helped make the Los Angeles Times one of the nation's top newspapers."

Award-winning journalists hanging out a shingle and saying, simply, "hire us."  It says a lot about where we are as an industry.  A similar site, ProPhotographyNetwork, offers the same services, or as Matt Randall says there, "We will shoot anything, anywhere, for anyone."

Do local television types want or need to do the same?  Are we on camera types satisfied with the work our agents are doing?  Would a "TelevisionProducersCollective" help?  These are the kinds of ideas we can talk about at LocalNewser's companion site, where I hope to offer peer coaching and mentoring to journalists who could benefit from a little guidance given the crazy world we're working--or, like the ex-Timesers, not working--in.