Poynter has assembled a reasonable guide to the darkest side of newsroom transition: When the ax falls and you're out of a job.

it solicited ideas on how to deal with anticipated job loss. Many of them are sound: Ensure you've got a good record of your work, take anything contentious out of the system, create an online presence, kill off anything embarrassing online.

Mainly, though, it's a good checklist of the area none want to acknowledge but most will deal with at some point in a career. Another take Thursday will deal with what to do when the worst happens.

The annual Newsroom Barometer is out from the World Editors Forum and Reuters its results suggest greater comprehension of the quality and quantity of newsroom change necessary in the time ahead. The Zogby poll of more than 700 editors and news executives in 120 countries was conducted in March.
A year ago editors were assessing the landscape differently, with some hesitation or early judgment of the value of multi-platform journalism.
Now an overwhelming number see integrated newsrooms as the norm, see the multi-platform journalist as the basic model, and view outsourcing as a given on certain functions.
Certainly, more want to hire more journalists, but more view online as the most common means of consumption within five years, and more also see news as a free commodity in the future.
A big interest and concern: Training. Editors are a little anxious that, having understood the need, they may not have the means to carry out the transformation.
A big priority for their media: Analysis and commentary. Editors view the value of value-added information as increasing in an age of commoditized conent.
A big worry: The loss of young readers. This is viewed as their biggest issue, and no one seems to have the answer.

The most promising finding of Brodeur's new survey on journalists and blogs is that blogs are helping journalists frame their stories, identify angles and gain insight into any debate.
The discordant tone is that they aren't used much to validate information and aren't viewed as contributors to high quality --- some of this may be defensiveness by old media to new media, but I suspect much of this is what you get when everyone suddenly owns a printing press. It takes time to shake out the best from the worst and we're still doing some shaking.
The findings ring true in the newsrooms I know. Journalists are excited about blogging because they can serve and interact differently. The standard of journalism isn't necessarily at risk, but the nature of the writing is more intimate and sociable.
Among the challenges for journalists: Participating more often and doing so without losing a grip on the public service nature of the work --- in other words, keeping some maturity and rigor in the blog when it seems others are just letting fly. To the degree they can do this, journalists will find new audiences and further satisfy existing ones.