From Sam Whitmore's Media survey

If you really want to do so something in this terrible economy
of ours, you have to do it yourself.

That's how veteran tech journalist Rafe Needleman sees it. Laid off
from Red Herring last fall, Needleman has returned with the Catch of the Day
concept as an independent production.

It'll appear sporadically at first, but will become a daily occurrence "soon,"
Needleman says on his new web site.

Needleman has been around. He first rose to visibility at InfoWorld, where
he was a protege of then-EIC Jonathan Sacks. When Sacks was hired by
Ziff-Davis to run the short-lived Corporate Computing, Needleman soon
joined him.

After ZD closed Corporate Computing, Needleman lingered for a stint at
ZD Labs, then out east for duty at Byte, and then back west to become editor
of CNet.com.

PR pros should visit this page and read his pitching instructions. They are
explicit - and sometimes on the harsh side.

In the FAQ section, Needleman addresses the question of canned presentations.
"Powerpoint? No. I can sleep with my eyes open. Try me."

While part of Red Herring, Catch of the Day had about 100,000 daily readers.

Catch of the Day is simply whatever Needleman feels like writing about.
Needleman says he serves five categories of readers: enterpreneurs, financiers,
service execs, marketing, product and technology execs, and the general public.

The Catch of the Day franchise eventually will comprise the e-mail newsletter,
the web site and "other products yet to be announced."

-Don Lemelin and Sam Whitmore

Reprinted with permission