According to our blogsib FishbowlLA, nationally-known freelance cartoonist Jim Hunt, who’s had work in “Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year” seven years running, still trawls Craigslist for gigs.

“Three times a week, I look through Craigslist for major cities. I’ve gotten some good jobs there. I turned out doing my work for Fox Sports through a listing on the Los Angeles Craigslist,” he says.

He also found a gig illustrating a children’s book through Craigslist. The title? The “Chew Chew Poop Pee Express.” Where can we buy a copy? Or ten thousand?

The needle barely moved on last week’s initial jobless claims, with the number of people filing for unemployment insurance falling by just 1,000 to 428,000. The four-week moving average rose 500 to 426,750, the Labor Department reported.

It was the twelfth week that claims remained above 400,000.

Continuing claims fell, but more slowly than they had been: for the week of June 11, the most recent week data were available, 7.51 million Americans were receiving continuing benefits, a decrease of 30,701 from the week prior.

Reuters reports that payrolls are expected to have increased by 90,000 in June; the employment report for June will be released July 8.

Jill Abramson on trying to stop defections from the NYT: “Whether it’s Bloomberg or the Huffington Post, I can feel on any given week that I’m playing whack-a-mole keeping our most talented people,” she said…..

• Jill Abramson Tries to Stop Defections From the New York Times (via FishbowlNY)

• Brent Glass, Director of National Museum of American History, Announces Resignation (via UnBeige)

• Susan Kane Named ‘Success’ Editor-in-Chief (via MinOnline)

• Oregonian names new biz editor (via Talking Biz News)

• Ruder Finn Launches CSR Practice (via PRNewser)

• Meet Teresa: the New WaPo/NPR Fellow (via FishbowlDC)

• Randy Falco Upped to CEO of Univision (via TVNewser)

The New Jersey Senate didn’t block Governor Chris Christie’s plan to let WNET operate New Jersey Public Television beginning Friday, reports the New Jersey Star-Ledger.

While the state will still be on the hook for $2 million a year (which critics say invalidates the larger argument that NJ will be saving money), the bulk of the station’s $19 million operating budget will be paid by WNET.

WNET plans to hire a staff of 20 to 25 to cover Jersey news. The current staff…well, despite Christie’s initial plan to spin off the network without layoffs… the 120 staffers currently of NJN are signing off at the end of the week.

One year ago, 5.5 million people visited a Journal Register Co. newspaper online.
Now, 11 million of the 19 million people who access a JRC “product” do it online.

The company grew digital revenue 70 percent in the first quarter of 2011 and will do it again in Q2, CEO John Paton said in a recent interview.

And, incredibly, he says, “If we stay on track this year … that growth will be within a percentage point or two of replacing every lost print advertising dollar with a digital advertising dollar….We may not get all the way there, but I think we’ll get very close — enough to prove to the wider world, and particularly the investment community, that newspapers do have this ability to transform.”

Lord.

Granted, the company went through bankruptcy in 2009, sold off 150 publications and laid off 2,000 employees. “The company that went into bankruptcy is no longer the same company,” Paton said.

Okay. So. A bit leaner, yes. But we’ll be watching this company closely.

The members of the Fresno Bee Guild voted unanimously Monday to ratify a new three-year contract with the paper, the Pacific Media Workers Guild notes.

The good news: everyone at the Bee who was awarded a raise between January and June of this year and hadn’t yet gotten the extra money will be paid retroactively.

For the rest of 2011, there will be a 2 percent merit pool (so that individuals can receive raises, or not, from that pool).

The newspaper, which is owned by McClatchy, retained the right to implement one week of furloughs in 2011, 2012, and 2013, if needed; the company also cut maximum severance from 40 weeks to 26 and reserved its right to require reporters to shoot photos or otherwise assign staff to duties “outside of their core skill set.” The contract, however, prohibits management from judging staff “based on the performance of duties outside of his or her core skill.”

It’s the latest installment of Social Media Revolution by author Erik Qualman.

According to this video, social media now gets more traffic than porn, Lady Gaga has more Twitter followers than the entire population of Greece, and the Facebook launch of the new Ford Explorer got more traffic than some Super Bowl ads.

A few quibbles: The typos are distracting, the kinetic text isn’t synched quite right with the music, and speaking of the music, we liked it better when it was the opening theme for Civ4.

Jessica Yellin has been named the chief White House correspondent for CNN, replacing Ed Henry, who has joined FNC….the Huffington Post’s four local sites, in major metropolitan areas, get more traffic than Patch’s 850, combined….and more news from yesterday…

• CNN Names Jessica Yellin Chief White House Correspondent (via TVNewser)

• HuffPo’s Four Local Sites Have More Traffic Than Patch’s 850 (AOL) (via SAI)

• LBi: Layoffs (via AgencySpy)

• The Atlantic Launches TheAtlanticCities.com (via Folio)

• What It’s Like To Be A Foursquare Intern (via SAI)

• Reuters hires Pulitzer winner Rohde (via Talking Biz News)

• Suellentrop quits NYT Magazine to join Yahoo! News (via Romenesko)

The winner of Susannah Breslin’s pitch contest (the cat-eared otaku) has published her post on Breslin’s Forbes.com blog.

We’re a little disappointed that the topic of the post was about journalism, not about any of the cool subcultures that Lauren Rae Orsini infiltrates. I mean, they say you should write what you know, but, argh.

At any rate.
The post is up. It’s titled How To Be A Journalist In 2011.

The answer: three-fold.
1: Pretend not to be a journalist. “It’s not that I wanted to spend my weekend in a French maid costume waiting tables. I wanted a chance to interview the girls that do.”
2: Make your own rules. “I prefer to report on my subjects while I’m dressed like them so I can feel what it’s like. I’ve learned to mimic my subjects and ignore the stares, and I’m following in the footsteps of undercover journalists before me. Not only do I understand where my subjects are coming from, they’re more open. It’s not a gimmick; it’s the most effective technique for me as a storyteller.”
3: Don’t look for a job. “In 2011, there are so many ways a young woman can use her journalism degree. She simply needs to look outside of the box of “traditional” journalism jobs and not wait for the New York Times to hire her when she can become a fully realized journalist on her own.”

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong has more or less demoted Jon Brod, formerly COO of AOL’s entire media group, to just AOL’s local news sites, Patch, and Mapquest.

Tim Lemmon, formerly of the Advertising.com group, is being promoted to Chief Analytics Officer.

Business Insider reports that Arianna Huffington’s role in the company won’t change. “this is about streamlining reporting lines on the business side and more closely integrating sales and editorial. The move is also described internally as the company doubling down on the Huffington Post platform–both the technology and the approach to aggregation, original reporting, and blogging.”

Meanwhile, Techcrunch reports, Huffington Post is absorbing many of the formerly standalone AOL sites, consolidating 50 brands into 23 “power brands.” Those are listed after the jump:
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