Editor&Publisher SPECIAL REPORT: As Cuts Trim News Pages and Newsrooms -- What Gets Lost?

[DeepModem Mom]

SPECIAL REPORT: As Cuts Trim News Pages and Newsrooms -- What Gets Lost?
By Joe Strupp
Published: May 31, 2007

NEW YORK With thousands of job cuts in recent years, costly news coverage that includes two foreign wars, and ever-escalating demands for Web content, newspapers these days are being forced to do more with less. For some editors, that means cutting back coverage of some lower-tier stories. For reporters, it often means taking time that was once spent digging for stories or networking with sources and instead using it to crank out or update the latest Web scoop. Newsrooms are facing larger workloads, increased stress, and more hours spent in the office for the same old pay, all the while hoping that the increased demand, amid decreased help, does not result in a huge editing gaffe -- or major missed story.

So with newsrooms shrinking and corporate demands growing, the question inevitably must be asked, "What Gives?" E&P interviewed several dozen reporters and editors who described in often painful detail how the current pressures -- both economic and journalistic -- are affecting them. Some editors claim the reduced workforce and increased needs are not hurting newsrooms, just requiring better organization and planning. Others admit they have had to abandon some beats entirely, and in a few cases, eliminate whole sections -- not to mention foreign bureaus -- to allow for the smaller staff and online push.

Newsroom staffers, meanwhile, are almost unanimous in saying they have increased their own productivity and reduced focus on some areas of reporting in order to better navigate the evolving print/digital landscape.

The growing Web culture and heavier work demands are visible at nearly every paper as editors come to embrace the online model. For many newspapers, such as USA Today and the Chicago Tribune, combining print and Web staffs in recent years and increasing online productivity was a no-brainer. But figuring out how to do that without severely diminishing the quality of print reports or cutting reporting time is still a work in progress....

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003588833

[lyonn]

1. Question - who owns the media now?

Who owns the papers? The major news papers in the cities across our country appear to have other sources of income. They can be independent and arrogant with the news they feed the masses in their area. Here is OKC our paper is strictly RED. It is pure trash. They call constantly trying to get subscriptions.

About 12 years ago, or more, a dear friend of mine was the society editor for our area of the city and it was so fun finally being recognized by the paper as being relevant. Wrong. She lasted a few years and was told that they were combining our area with a town that was totally military. That was the last time I subscribed to that piece of trash. You see, our area is more in the "red neck" part of the city, not the who's who in OKC. That was an eye opener when it came to politics. It was then I changed my party affiliation from the repub. party. Oh the shame of being stupid...

Oh, E. K. Gaylord and his heirs own the paper. You know, the ones that bought the Grand Ol Opry in Nashville. They have never done Sh*t for OKC. And we wonder why our party has such a hard time getting the truth out, Not Really. We know.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks for relating this (sad) experience in your city.

Some in our family work at a major U.S. daily, going through just now draconian cuts in editorial staff -- which are almost certain to diminish coverage of news in depth, with the result of less truth getting out there.

[lyonn]

5. Do you believe the cuts are due to lack of funds?

That doesn't compute for me, but, who knows? It seems the major news outlets are invested in other areas that are profitable. Hey, if they were newsworthy we would spend the money.

[DeepModem Mom]

6. They say lack of funds, but it's difficult to really know.

I know that lots of papers seem financially troubled, but at least one editor, Dean Baquet at the LA Times, ended up losing his job as editor over his insistence that cutting writers -- and, therefore, coverage -- was not the way out of difficulty.

[Demeter]

3. The American Free Press Has Reduced Itself To the Shoppers Gazette

There is no news in the news. Even national record types are skimping. I remember incredibly long, multipage articles as a daily newspaper's feature: reports on Vietnam, Watergate, economics, budget debates, even local news would go half a column! And this was in the '60's, not so long ago.

[lyonn]

4. "Shoppers Gazette", love the discription!

The internet is our only hope of getting real info. That is if the govt. doesn't limit our access.