High-level talks are happening this week in Washington, D.C. this week between Big Business and government officials, focused on an emergency government bailout of the foundering financial and automotive industries. The thinking is that saving Wall Street and Detroit from further disaster will have some kind of ripple (trickle-down?) effect and buoy prospects for smaller businesses on Main Street.

But what of the rest of us? And what of those poor old journalists who work in media with shrinking audiences — and budgets?

With tongue only partly in cheek, TypePad, Six Apart’s hosted blogging service, offers writers “recently-laid-off or fearful-of-layoffs” the TypePad Journalist Bailout Program.

The Journalist Bailout offers writer-applicants an opportunity to continue to be paid for the work they publish via a free TypePad pro-level account, participation in the company’s advertising program, promotion on the Blogs.com website, and other support.  Journalists apply for the bailout by sending a note with a link to their most recent print or broadcast piece.

Talking about the first few days of the bailout offer, Six Apart’s VP and “Chief Evangelist” Anil Dash writes,

“These experiences showed me something I’d expected: A lot of people are thinking about how journalism is going to evolve online, and many people are passionate about making sure journalists make the leap.

“What I hadn’t fully expected was how gripping the stories from individual journalists have been. The mood of the emails we’ve gotten has ranged from hopeful to heartbreaking, from cynical to sincere. Overall, there’s an optimism which indicates that having a starting point to do something proactive and positive will be a great first step for many journalists to take control of their careers in an industry that is going through enormous upheaval.”

Even Six Apart is feeling the pinch of an uncertain economic future, however. Just last week, CEO Chris Alden announced a reduction of about 8% of the company’s staff.

Image: Google News