Back in October, I wrote about why it’s good, these days, to be a freelancer: print media is dying and consequently trimming many of its staff writing jobs (especially those for science writers).

Echoing this is the latest ‘State of the News Media’ report, released yesterday by the Pew Research Center. It’s worth browsing the entire thing, but I’ll just call your attention to one of the ‘major trends’ identified by the report: “Power is shifting to the individual journalist and away, by degrees, from journalistic institutions“:

The trend is still forming and its potential is uncertain but the signs are clear. Through search, e-mail, blogs, social media and more, consumers are gravitating to the work of individual writers and voices, and away somewhat from institutional brand. Journalists who have left legacy news organizations are attracting funding to create their own websites. Experiments like GlobalPost are testing whether individual journalists can become independent contractors offering reporting to various sites, in much the way photographers have operated for years at magazines. It would be a mistake to overstate the movement at this point. But for a few journalists at least, there are signs of a new prospect: individual journalists, funded by a mix of sources, offering expert coverage to many places. The movement offers the possibility of more skilled reporting from the field. Yet it would also require consumers to be discriminating and raises questions about how news organizations would ensure quality and reliability.