Journalists band together to offer services

If imitation is flattering, then the California photojournalists behind the ProPhotography Network are flying high with with the launch of The Journalism Shop.

The former Los Angeles Times employees, including former Detroit News reporter Scott Martelle (September 1986 – July 1995,) will match your needs with their skills:

• If you're looking for someone to report and write a traditional piece of journalism, check out the "Reporting" page.
• Veteran writers interested in tackling non-journalism projects, including public relations, ghost-writing and corporate (for-profit and nonprofit) reports, can be found on the "PR/Marketing" page.
• Experienced page designers, copy editors and line editors are on the "Design/Editing" page.
• Skilled project managers can be found on the "Projects" page.
• Experienced librarians and researchers can be found at the "Research" page.

And, of course, if what you want isn't listed just send an email and someone will match you up.

Martelle, who took a lead role in developing the web site with Brett Levy, blogs about it in "A new web venture for a bunch of us laid-off journos."

It's an idea others - including alumni of the Hartford Courant - have considered.

(By the way, Levy writes DadTalk when he's not doing a "new web venture" or keeping WriteThru together. WriteThu is Levy's attempt to help launch the new renaissance of journalism. The first mission is "offer affordable, if not free, educational webinars on how to use all these new-fangled publishing tools." He even defines success:

"... those who go out there and create a weblog or create a hyper local news site. After all, any journalist can launch a blog or website in just an hour at no or little cost with ZERO technical abilities."