Working in the media these days is like competing in a cruel and twisted hybrid reality show that combines elements of “Survivor,” “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” and “The Biggest Loser.”

You never know when you’re going to get voted off the island (laid off), but you have nowhere to go once that day comes because Ty Pennington and crew have torn down your house (the crumbling ivory tower). The message: I’m sorry to say, but you are the biggest loser (of income). Now get lost!

Sadly, that reality is far more true for my journalistic brethren and me than anything you will see on a reality series. Just ask Kenneth Walsh, a New York Times News Service editor who just lost his job. His layoff account at Kenneth in the 212 reminded me how depressing reality is in today’s media world:

[W]hile I’ve savored every minute at the Times, I’ve always felt like it could end at any given moment. Sadly, yesterday was that day. The second my slot called me on my day off to tell me there was going to be a 5 p.m. staff meeting with our masthead boss (whom we rarely see) that he strongly recommended I come in for, I knew the jig was up.

Still, having lived through several rounds of cuts in recent years, we had all come to the realization that there was no viable way for them to cut even one more person without something drastic changing about our workload. Somehow, this provided a strange sense of (false) confidence, something that was shattered in the first sentence of our big boss’ announcement as he told us that our ENTIRE DEPARTMENT and all of its editing functions were being outsourced. …

I’ve felt like I was playing a losing game of “Survivor” for so long now that there’s a certain element of relief. I know I’ll be all right, but it still hurts knowing that the profession I’ve dedicated my life to is slowly evaporating before my very eyes.

Yes, it is utterly depressing to be a journalist in this market, both economically and emotionally. This week I tried out for a part-time copy editor’s job — on the day the entire publication began to implode. With each passing day, I grow more convinced that journalism as America has known it is dead.

Yet I hope for a brighter future, and with good reason. Every bit of bad news for “old media” seems to be met with promising “new media” news.

Just this week The New York Times published a story by a freelancer who raised the money for her reporting through a start-up nonprofit that supports “community-funded journalism.” The story was unremarkable, funded by the environmental community and written by a journalist with an agenda, but it shows the potential for “crowd-sourcing” stories.

Conservative activists also are testing the journalism waters. A new operation called 73wire, which bills itself as “a collaborative, people-powered news project,” sent reporters to cover the special congressional election in New York’s 23rd District during its last days. The team’s coverage influenced the outcome of the race.

Traditional media outlets and the journalists they employed are suffering because they refused to change when given the opportunity. Emerging media operations aren’t exactly thriving — most of them haven’t had any more success at making money, or winning donors, than their predecessors — but their achievements at least give journalists like me reason to dream of a better future.

Some day the Ty Penningtons of the media world will build bigger and better homes, and hopefully there will be a few spare rooms for us homeless journalists.