— Blog company Six Apart announces layoffs. But interestingly, they repeat the argument I mentioned in my talk with Jeff Howe: that a declining economy is good for innovations in new media:

We’ve been reminded lately that blogging was born out of the last recession in 2001-2002, and that during tough economic times creative voices look to powerful, cost-effective ways to connect and communicate with the world around them.

— Two Connecticut towns may be test cases for a newspaperless future come January 12. A reporter there, Steve Collins, is griefblogging. After acknowledging “I know some are disappointed about its inability to cover everything anymore or even to get copies delivered properly”:

A city without a newspaper lacks an identity because it doesn’t have a way to talk to itself. It can’t communicate beyond the narrow bounds of personal ties. It becomes a far lesser place. Don’t believe me? Go ask the people in a city that doesn’t have a paper.

— A liveblog from a “changing media landscape” discussion at Columbia.

— Battle of the titans: Ron Rosenbaum tries to take down Jeff Jarvis. (“He’s now visibly running for New Media Pontificator in Chief. He began treating his own thoughts as profound and epigrammatic, PowerPoint-paradoxical, new-media-mystical.”) Grab some popcorn and enjoy the show — it’s likely to be one of those classic media clashes that leaves you feeling a little less for both. (Update: Jarvis responds, and I think fairly. I’m a big Rosenbaum fan, but he was reaching.)