Six Apart, maker of Movable Type and TypePad blogging software, has introduced a “bailout program” for journalists who have lost their jobs.
The company is offering a free pro account (worth $150 annually) on its blogging platform. In addition to the free yearly membership, the 20 to 30 journalists who are accepted will receive professional tech support, placement on the company’s blog aggregation site, Blogs.com, and automatic enrollment in the Six Apart advertising revenue-sharing program.
Anil Dash, a vice president at Six Apart, announced the program Nov. 14, shortly after the company made its own staff cuts. On Monday morning, he had roughly 50 e-mail applications in his inbox, and they have continued to pour in, totaling nearly 300 so far. “It was a bit of a surprise how quickly word got out,” Dash told the “New York Times.” “This has struck a nerve.”
Brooke-Sidney Gavins, a broadcast journalism student at the University of Southern California, told the newspaper she is hoping to be chosen to help her nascent writing career. “I understand that there may not be a ‘guaranteed’ job with a major media organization after I graduate,” Gavins said. “A lot of new journalists are going to have to build their careers more guerrilla-style by selling their stories and promoting their work all the time.”
Dash said he hopes to eventually accept every applicant. “How do we do right by all these people?” he told the newspaper. “That’s exactly what’s keeping me up at night.”
