PBS.org will launch its first blog this week, Media Shift. The blog, which will be written by former OJR columnist Mark Glaser, will look at the effects of new forms of digital media, especially Web-based publishing, upon U.S. society and culture.

The new blog is slated to debut Wednesday, Jan. 18.

Happy new year and welcome back to OJR!

I wanted to note that we’ll be tweaking our publishing schedule slightly with this new semester. We’ll be posting new feature articles to the site early Monday mornings, with a second article each week around noon on Thursdays. (Los Angeles time in both cases.)

If you’ve subscribed to our e-mail newsletter, you’ll be getting those story links in your in box on Monday and Friday mornings. And if you’ve not yet subscribed, why not try it? Our newsletter’s a great way to be notified whenever we have new feature articles on the site.

I hope you’ll take a moment to visit the newly revised and updated Newswriting.com. As you may know, I created the site in 2001 to help broadcast journalists improve their writing and storytelling skills. Newswriting.com became a quick favorite for many people who enjoyed learning from the Writing Tools and laughing at the Groaners.

After a little time off, Newswriting.com has returned with a new look and a broader mission. In addition to all the original popular features, the site now features a Front Page column that focuses on the challenges of news coverage in a rapidly changing environment: Who’s doing great work? Who’s doing questionable work? Which changes are good for us? Which ones endanger our profession?

The current Front Page column offers three recent examples of what a simple name change can do: Infinity’s decision to become CBS Radio, WIBA-FM’s decision to sell its newsroom’s naming rights to a bank, and ABC’s reborn Nightline, where everything has changed, except the name!

I hope you’ll find the new Newswriting.com useful and fun, and I hope you’ll get in touch to offer comments, suggestions, opinions, or to propose new topics or a guest column. I also hope you’ll spread the word. Also, please feel free to link to the site.