Who says your first-person essays have to be limited to print? We’re ending our four-part series on personal essays with a nod to the growing digital outlet, with 15 sites all eager to publish your piece.

Salon.com is hungry for unique stories only you can tell, while three parenting pubs want to read “click-y content” that’ll bring the laughs. You can even tweet “tiny truths” to CreativeNonfiction.org in 130 characters or less.

Find out more on word count and submission etiquette at Personal Essay Markets, Part IV [sub req'd]. And don’t forget to revisit our Parts I, II and III for advice on tackling the oldie-but-goodie print pubs.

Yesterday morning FishbowlNY picked up on a rumor that Roger Ailes was going to be indicted this week, possibly even today. The rumor was sparked by a blog post by Barry Ritholtz, in which he cited a source telling him that Ailes was in serious, imminent trouble. Naturally, we tweeted about it and waited to hear anything more. Well, Justin Elliott at Salon, has more; or at least more about the specifics behind the rumor.

Apparently the source Ritholtz cited in his post was some random guy he met at an airport. Perfect! Elliot explains:

Here’s what happened, according to Ritholtz, who just got back from a vacation on the tropical island: He was sitting in the Barbados airport waiting for a plane to arrive and he struck up a conversation with an older man sitting next to him.

‘We started chatting and next thing I know, we’re waiting to leave the gate, his phone rings and he tells his wife, ‘yeah Ailes just canceled the event,’ Ritholtz says, describing the man as “obviously annoyed and frustrated.’

The man runs an annual event in March at which Ailes was scheduled to speak, according to Ritholtz, who declined to specify the event. When he asked the man why Ailes canceled, the man said Ailes was about to be indicted. He describes the man, who he would not name, as an ‘Upper East Side Democrat.’

Well, thank god he’s an Upper East Side Democrat and not a Hell’s Kitchen Independent, because then this story would really lack credibiltiy.

Perhaps the guy will end up being right, but maybe, just maybe, Ritholtz should have waited and got another source before starting up the rumor mill.

Atlantic Consumer Media has launched a new stand alone site The Atlantic Wire, to aggregate some of the best opinions and debates on the Web.

The Atlantic has long been a source for well-thought out opinions and discussions, and some of the voice from the magazine and its Web site, like columnist Andrew Sullivan, do make their way onto the Atlantic Wire’s homepage.

Along with tabs highlighting the biggest debates today — right now they’re “Health Care Reform,” “Joe Wilson Outburst” and “Reforming Wall Street” — that homepage also includes a link to The Atlantic 50, a ranking of the most influential pundits doing the job today. The Atlantic Wire ranks them, then features their most recent thoughts side-by-side. The New York Times‘ Paul Krugman tops the list, followed by Rush Limbaugh, George Will and Thomas Friedman and David Brooks, also of the Times.

Of the 50, 14 columnists hail from The Washington Post, eight from the Times, five from The Wall Street Journal and eight are primarily bloggers, including Arianna Huffington and Salon.com‘s Glenn Greenwald. There are also as well as three commentators from the Fox News, including Glenn Beck, and two from MSNBC — Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow.

“Taking a systematic and data-driven editorial approach to the exploding universe of opinions, the Atlantic Wire helps readers engage with the most important political, business and social commentary,” said Bob Cohn, editorial director of TheAtlantic.com and the Atlantic Wire. “As readers face an overload of information and a deficit of free time, they can now visit one site to easily follow the topics they care about and the opinion-makers who fascinate them.”

The Atlantic Wire’s launch comes just days after its parent company announced that it had hired Slate founder and columnist Michael Kinsley as a columnist for The Atlantic. Kinsley was also brought on to launch a new digital project for the company early next year. We’re looking forward to seeing how that new project will complement TheAtlantic.com and Atlantic Wire.

Earlier: Slate Founder Michael Kinsley To Lead New Digital Launch For Atlantic

Gawker is reporting that Salon.com has laid off six editorial staffers last week, or 20 percent of its edit department.

CEO Richard Gingras told Gawker’s John Cook that three editors, one writer, one photo editor and one producer were let go as the site prepares for a redesign.

“For several months we have been working on a redesign of our product, that we will launch this fall, and also a redesign of our underlying systems. We are moving away from a very traditional magazine production model and becoming more of a true Web publication, with a more direct publishing system. Moving forward, we are investing most in the writers and creative participants who can help us continue to attract the smart, discerning readers attracted to Salon.”

Read Gingras’ whole statement and the full report here. If you have any other info send us an email or leave us a comment below.

Our colleagues over at FishbowlDC have news about a new post for former Washington Post blogger Dan Froomkin.

Froomkin, who wrote the political blog White House Watch, was unexpectedly dumped by the Post last month. But he’s landed on his feet, snagging a spot at The Huffington Post where he will “oversee a staff of four reporters and an assistant editor, guide The Huffington Post’s Washington reporting, and write at least two posts per week to be featured on its main page and Politics page,” Salon.com‘s Glenn Greenwald reported today.

(Photo via the Post)

Last night marked the first annual Women’s Media Center Media Awards at the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation in midtown. Catered and cozy, the event took place in a small, packed room brimming with well-established female media types and bright-eyed J-school students, with a mic stand in the corner for awardees like Salon.com‘s Rebecca Traister, as well as hosts Gloria Steinem and WMC President Carol Jenkins. 



The evening was divided into two parts: the first honored six women in the media industry who have done outstanding work in bringing women’s issues to the forefront of media coverage; the second part cued a wag of the finger at organizations and events that shed a particularly negative light upon women in the past year. “It’s very important that we criticize when [women's coverage] is incomplete, but praise when it’s complete,” Steinem said, explaining the reason for organizing the awards this way.

In her opening remarks, Steinem also associated the media with a modern-day campfire, a place where people gather to tell stories and express themselves. “It is crucial that everyone’s stories be told…the media is our campfire,” she said. “And if we cannot tell our stories or have people listen to our stories, we feel alone.”

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