Not A Good Trend: 'A Federal Study Finds That Local Reporting Has Waned' - NYT

[WillyT]

A Federal Study Finds That Local Reporting Has Waned
By JEREMY W. PETERS and BRIAN STELTER
Published: June 9, 2011

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An explosion of online news sources in recent years has not produced a corresponding increase in reporting, particularly quality local reporting, a federal study of the media has found. Coverage of state governments and municipalities has receded at such an alarming pace that it has left government with more power than ever to set the agenda and have assertions unchallenged, concluded the study, which is to be released on Thursday.

“In many communities, we now face a shortage of local, professional, accountability reporting,” said the study, which was ordered by the Federal Communications Commission and written by Steven Waldman, a former journalist for Newsweek and U.S. News and World Report. “The independent watchdog function that the Founding Fathers envisioned for journalism — going so far as to call it crucial to a healthy democracy — is in some cases at risk at the local level.

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In researching the report, he and his staff interviewed scores of journalists to develop a fuller picture of the state of media. What they found was sometimes alarming. At one newspaper Mr. Waldman visited in Tennessee, he recalled, he asked an editor about a list of story ideas that was posted in the newsroom.

“There was one up there that said it was about the regulatory board that dealt with incompetent doctors. And there was a little red X next to it. I said, ‘What does that mean?’ And he said, ‘Well, we’re not doing that one.’ ” The reason the editor offered: the paper used to have two reporters assigned to cover that area, and now it had only one.

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More: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/business/media/09press.html

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