It's very logical and very sad: Publication shut-downs and layoffs are coming so quickly they can only be effectively tracked at 140 characters or less, on Twitter.

Welcome to twitter.com/themediaisdying! It is run by a band of anonymous flacks who got tired of having to send, like, a dozen emails a day about what reporters had just been laid off, so they agreed, in desperation, to dump all their information into a Twitter stream people could subscribe to. "It's gotten insane," one told the Times.

On Thursday, the stream contained 30 updates: 17 layoffs, buyouts or retirements; 6 publication shutdowns, restructurings or sales; two new gigs; one publication launch and four self-promotional or blogging-related posts.

It's like ripping off a band-aid: Take your pain quickly and severely, and it won't hurt as bad!