WordCount – Freelancing in the Digital Age

It might be bad times for business, and bad times for newspaper business sections, but it appears to be a great time to be a business journalist.

Last week on the same day that Wall Street tanked, Slate introduced its new business section, called The Big Money, edited by ex-deputy managing editor of CNN Money and Industry Standard veteran James Ledbetter Jr. Elinor Shields, former managing editor of The Huffington Post, will be deputy editor.

During the same week, Silicon Alley Insider unveiled a sister site called ClusterStock that will focus on financial markets and be edited by Henry Blodget, “a former top-ranked Wall Street stock analyst who was later keelhauled by Eliot Spitzer (yes, that Eliot Spitzer).” The Wall Street Journal unveiled a face lift and Forbes.com launched an opinion channel, adding 16 new columnists to cover topics including business and economics.

What does this mean for freelancers? Whether the market is bullish or bearish, there’s still a huge appetite for business news, whether it’s explaining Wall Street to consumers or dishing insider details for the trades.