Nielson Business Media has sold off a number of its properties and shuttered two, including the venerable Editor & Publisher.

Editor and Publisher has been a trade magazine for newspaper journalists for over 100 years, and its left-wing slant has been an interesting commentary on the industry as a whole.

Now its a different kind of interesting commentary--the state of the traditional newspaper industry, which can no longer effectively support a trade magazine.

Considering that there are thriving trade magazines for handmade greeting cards, dogs, cats and just about every innocuous interest one can imagine, the failure of a E&P is a devastating indictment of the state of print journalism. Basically, E&P had no value, making it unsaleable and leaving Nielson little choice but to put it out of its misery.

Anyone want to start a trade magazine for bloggers? Oh wait! There already is one.

UPDATE: I thought this was interesting.

A few people have called attention to the fact that "Editor & Publisher" is now one of the top trending topics on Twitter, along with "Christmas" and "Tiger Woods." Perhaps more evidence that's there's a disproportionate number of journalists on Twitter.

ANOTHER UPDATE: While journos wonder what the future holds, it appears to be unfolding right in front of them...

When Andrew Breitbart launched Big Government in September, we asked if he was gearing up to be the next Arianna Huffington: An opinion blog rainmaker with a one-stop digital powerhouse, but presented from the opposite end of the political spectrum.

Three months later, hyperbole has become reality as Breitbart is adding to his network of vertical blogs. The newest site to join the Breitbart network is “Big Journalism,” which will launch in January of next year. His target is much bigger than HuffPo — or any other website for that matter. Breitbart is gunning for the institution of mainstream media, or what he calls “the Democratic-media complex.”