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The article reports on the increasing demand for journalists in the U.S. as of December 2010. Yahoo News, Newsday and MSN are among the companies looking for individuals who can be part of news team and bloggers community. Patch.com of the AOL Inc. media company made news early in 2010 for allotting 50 million U.S. dollars to high journalists who will be responsible for covering neighborhood news in communities of a maximum of 75,000 people.

The article discusses the newspaper coverage of the April 2007 shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and how citizen and professional journalists worked to collect and disperse information. New media played a large role in the news gathering process and the author herself used the social networking website Facebook to get in touch with Virginia Tech students. Jose Antonio Vargas of the "Washington Post" found Tech student Trey Perkins via Facebook and secured a phone interview with him on the day of the shooting. Suzanne Grimes, the mother of victim Kevin Sterne, used her cell phone to locate her son. The website Gawker.com published emails from news agencies asking for interviews.

An interview with journalist Tracy Record of West Seattle Blog (WSB), an online journalism community, is presented. When asked what prompted her to left a job as an assistant television news director to start WSB, Record answered that she decided to quit her job when she turned WSB into business. According to Record, her job in WSB is not blogging, but reporting. As part of her business, she pays freelance writers and photographers.

The article discusses the efforts of U.S. journalists to lobby for a federal shield law and how the proposed law should address bloggers. Comments made by Robert Cox of the Media Bloggers Association on the topic at the 2007 Society of Professional Journalists (SJP) Convention & Journalism Conference are commented on in detail. It is reported that the version of the federal shield law passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in October 2007 would extend freedom of speech protections to cover bloggers who provide commentary or news coverage for financial gain or who devote considerable time to blogging. The opposition of U.S. president George W. Bush to the proposed law is noted.

The article discusses the mission and successes of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). It is announced that "The Journalist," one of SPJ's two magazines, will be available internationally in print format through retailers like Barnes and Noble, Borders, and Hastings. SPJ was responsible for exposing U.S. Senator John Kyl for have a hold put on the Open Government Act of 2007. SPJ is also encouraging the rise of "citizen journalists" by hosting educational meetings where bloggers can learn about journalism. The benefits of membership in the group are discussed.