WordCount online media news for week of March 27

Online media business highlights of the past week:

A group of reporters displaced when Denver’s Rocky Mountain News folded have started an online-only news outfit called InDenverTimes.com. The basic news service will be free, with subscriptions available for interactive features.

While community news ventures like InDenverTimes.com, newspaper companies and other online entrepreneurs continue to explore viable financial options for delivering online news, Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md) introduced a bailout bill that would allow papers to operate as nonprofits. Under the bill, papers could still sell ads and subscriptions but would be prohibited from endorsing political candidates.

For a peek at where business news is headed, look at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) Best in Business winners for 2008. In addition to print winners, SABEW recognizes excellence in online breaking news, projects, multimedia storytelling and blogs. This year’s winners include several online only news organizations: the re-vitalized Industry Standard, plus BNet, TheStreet.com and Blumsday, a daily tech blog.

As more newspapers and magazines slash freelance budgets, independent writers are scouring Craigslist and other freelance job boards for work. But not all opportunities are what they seem. Some job listings that require writers to turn in spec articles in order to be considered for work are scams, a practice veteran freelancer Erik Sherman rails against in a particularly scathing rant on his WriterBiz blog. Freelancers, consider yourselves warned.

With use of Twitter growing by tens of thousands of new users a week, freelancer Susan Johnston posted this list of 50 freelancers to follow on Twitter.

If you’re on Twitter, a new-ish tool called WeFollow.com can help you identify people in specific interest areas that you might want to connect with.