During my cyber adventures today, I came across three separate articles bemoaning the end of the world. Or maybe just the end of journalism and publishing.

I have to say, as someone who’s had the pleasure (mostly) of working with full-time print journalists, this doesn’t surprise me. Print journalists have been crying about the end of journalism for a while now, but if recent figures are to be believed, people are reading more than they ever have before.

They’re just doing it online.

As a journalist, especially as a freelance journalist, I’ve witnessed first-hand the changes that have come with new technologies and new mediums.

I remember when editors only wanted to look at your print portfolio and being in India worked against me when trying to get work. Now, editors shake their heads if you don’t have a website or at least some work online that they can check out. New Delhi, San Francisco, Nairobi, Melbourne, what does it matter? You’re using e-mail anyway. And you’re talking through Skype. And having quick conversations on iChat.

I remember when mailing your clips and your query using postal mail was the preferred method. Now even if you use postal mail, the response will arrive by e-mail.

I remember when people thought it a tad silly when I started blogging. Now they’re fighting over what’s better: WordPress or Blogger.

But as a journalist, a writer, a freelancer, what does this mean for you?

Nothing, really, if you’ve kept up with the world of publishing. While the print journalists who’ve just lost their jobs post rants (on their blogs, no less), many writers, including me, have had the busiest month of our careers, possibly the most profitable too. That’s because we’ve been writing for small publications, for international publications, and mostly, for online publications.

Once, freelancing was considered something you did if you couldn’t get or keep a “real” job or were too scattered to have focus. Now people who can multitask and handle several projects at once are in high demand.

Journalism is not dying. If anything, there’s a need, now more than ever, for original reporting, for investigative reporting, and for foreign reporting.

Print may or may not survive in its current format, I’ll give you that. But journalism is far from past tense. It’s just changing. Instead of the one journalist, you now have collaborations. Instead of exclusives, you now have sharing of resources. Instead of “front page” news, you now have most-emailed news.

As long as you have an important story to tell, there will be someone out there willing to buy it. Open your mind to the different ways of working in this new media world, and you’ll be just fine.