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Hi Megan,

I emailed an old friend of mine in NYC who's pretty plugged into the magazine world there. Here's what she told me: "The publications world in New York—magazines, newspapers, tabloids, you name it—is pretty traumatized economically and essentially in free-fall right now. The big houses like Condé Nast are ejecting employees and closing pubs right and left. Even “Mother Times” has gone the way of all flesh and done a mass lay-off. So my advice to your intern would be to think long and hard about how he or she is going to make money if he or she moves here. It’s incredibly expensive. What is still possible, is to do what my colleague is doing—work some kind of non-editorial job that pays a decent salary and has benefits, and then do freelance writing on the side and hope for a break. I think things are going to start turning around by next year, but the overall retrenchment has cut down a lot of experienced, big-name folks who now are also out there trying to complete for the few jobs that exist. Someone just out of school is going to have a tough time getting to the front of the line. Sorry to be so pessimistic, but it ain’t good times for journalists in The City. That said, I would be happy to meet with your intern if and when he or she comes to New York. I can’t promise to have any magic solutions in hand, but I can be a friendly face."

Sorry to pass on such a pessimistic forecast, but I guess that's the reality right now. I'll keep my ears open and let you know if I come across anything that looks promising here and there.

Craig Cox (Experience Life)

From Phillip Pina, Pioneer Press, interviewed by Alex Ebert

What are the biggest challenges you face?

1. the drain of experience. Buyouts have meant some of the more experienced reporters with institutional knowledge have left the field. We have to find ways to capture the excitement and technological abilities of the younger reporters that are left.

2. fewer bodies in the newsroom. Cutbacks mean reporters are juggling more.

As an editor, how do you prioritize the needs of the readers with the realities of the newsroom?

3. an uninterested audience. It's not just tv news you are competing with for their undivided attention. Its the gossip on facebook. that silly texting string on my phone. the giggling approach to news like gawker and tmz.com. After the headline, after the photo, after realizing I heard something about this on the radio at noon; what do we write that will get someone to read the next graph?

What things make a great editor?

I've had editors who would assign a story, and then walk away. That is unacceptable. One must be more vested in the story, in the reporter's career, in the protection of the newspaper's reputation as an institution in the community, and in the truth - than to just walk away. A great editor understands the impact his or her decisions has. They check on your progress, offer any suggestions, offer any experience you have, clear the decks and bring in reinforcements if necessary. And once done, they check it again. And they inspire you to new ideas, better stories and a desire to share them with the world.

What features make a great editor?

An ability to listen and an ability to inspire. One of my favorite editors I turned to when I first started this gig, said my job wasn't to spell check and worry about grammar. It was to push writers to be fair, accurate and to challenge their sources. And to push them to pursue new stories and ways of telling them. Now that editor is working at a newspaper that just got rid of almost all its copy editors, so she may have a change of heart now.