A new report from Project for Excellence in Journalism should make good reading for us media types:

The State of the News Media 2008, PEJ’s newest annual report [5th edition] on the status and health of American journalism, is now online at www.stateofthenewsmedia.org. The study analyzes the major trends in the main media sectors and features: a Year in the News; a Survey of Journalists; a look at the Future of Advertising; an analysis of Citizen Media sites and more.

Seasoned writers don't exactly need the American Newspaper Guild's new study to tell them jobs for journalists are increasingly rare. We've been feeling the pinch since magazines and papers started laying off staffers in favor of cheaper freelancers. But that's not to say there's much work in freelance writing either. Those former staffers became favored freelancers, narrowing down the market even more.

I sniffed out a story on the Portfolio blog the other day that Food Network may be cooking up another new magazine. Specifically, they seem to be cannibalizing editors from Rachel Ray's magazine.

Food editors might want to call in some favors, if you know anyone at Reader's Digest, which owns the Rachel Ray mag.

There's no one secret to getting more freelance gigs (or if there is and you know it - please tell me about it!), but one good tactic is to specialize.

So says Kelly James-Enger, a colleague of mine who herself is a master at specialization and self-marketing. Her book Ready, Aim, Specialize has just moved into its second printing and stands out in the crowd of writing books. I like the samples of winning query letters, so you can see what works and why.

Nice work, Kelly!

Happy New Year. Now it's time to put into action all the foundation work you laid last year. It's time to execute.

Here's where you brainstorm some ideas for articles or your new job, set concrete goals for submissions of query letters or cover letters, and go glad-handing.

A couple months ago, I wrote an editorial about what it was like being a newspaper reporter in the mid-'90s. I can't believe how different my job was. Thought you'd like to see how that's changed over the years:

In case you haven't stopped by Job Ads lately, check out the cool international jobs there, including Germany, Asia Pacific and the UK

http://www.newsjobs.net/jobads

Well, Action Jackson, now you're armed with a complete view of where you want to be in 2008 and the kind of work you'll never touch again. It's time to take aim so you can get ready to fire. This week: identify your targets and develop a plan of attack for obstacles. In business speak, this is what's called your business plan's market analysis.

With some idea of where you’d like to head in 2008 based on your goals statement and values statement, you can start to put together a concrete plan. But before going forward, you’ve got to look back, back to the work you’ve done in 2007. It’s time for a year-in-review analysis.

First, a confession: I’m enamored with Bear Grylls. This super-tough action man from the TV show Man vs. Wild can survive anything, and I mean anything. Last week he ate a live camel spider, crossed the Sahara on foot and climbed inside a dead camel to ... well, I won’t go too deeply into that. It was horrifying, and I’ll save you the pain.