From the New York Observer's Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke comes an upbeat story about laid-off journalists finding new careers writing for blogs owned by commercial brands. There's scarcely a nod toward the view that such sponsorship is bad (ahem, Pepsigate) for either journalists or journalism: "While writing gigs at magazines and newspapers continue to dry up, there are abundant opportunities to write or consult for blogs owned directly by brands."

The Retraction Watch blog made its name by shining light on scientific papers pulled for misrepresentation, misconduct, malpractice, or other chicanery. This week, however, the blog was notified that 10 of its posts were pulled by its web host because an Indian web site claimed copyright to them. Not true, said RW's Ivan Oransky. More from John Timmer and Tom Levenson, plus five similar episodes.

Ever hear the term "Take out the trash Friday?" As Denise Graveline explains in this post about transparency in press release timing, it's from a West Wing episode and refers to the once-common practice of letting bad news out when no one's paying attention: "Used to be that big organizations, including government agencies, got in the habit of releasing not-so-good news on Friday afternoons, when they were less likely to garner coverage and attention over the weekend."

They're not the same thing, author Ben Yagoda says in this Time Newsfeed Q&A. Yagoda discusses some writing sins — using the wrong word, writing in all caps — but says that's only part of the secret: "The not-writing-badly thing is a skill that can be learned, by reading, by following principles, by using the dictionary, by slowing down and all those things. Writing well is a little more mysterious. It's art. There's inspiration. There's individual talent and style."