With deep cuts in newsrooms and ad revenue shrinking, it's a tough time to be a journalist of any sort, whether online, print, or broadcast. So it's a breath of fresh air when someone comes along and does something nice for our colleagues in the Fourth Estate.Six Apart, the company behind Movable Type and TypePad, introduced a promotion over this past weekend that it's calling the TypePad Journalist Bailout Program. The plan is to allow journalists -- both those currently out of work and those with jobs -- to sign up for a free subscription to TypePad Pro.

It sounds like the response has been heavy, to say the least. From the update to the original post:

The program itself is pretty straightforward -- journalists can send a link to a recent clip, and once the team at Six Apart reviews and approves it, they'll sign you up for the program.

TypePad is a solid, feature-rich blogging and content management platform, and because it's hosted, journalists can focus on their writing instead of messing around with lots of complicated configuration. In addition to the TypePad Pro account itself (worth about $150 a year), Six Apart is also offering promotion on its blogs.com site and enrollment in the Six Apart Media advertising program, all free.

I have to imagine that as the word continues to spread, the response may become overwhelming and Six Apart might have to pull the plug. Until then, pick a great clip, and fire off an e-mail. It's just too good an offer to let pass you by.