Newsrooms Shrinking as Publishers Race to Bottom Line

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/04/25/newsrooms-shrinking-as-publishers-race-to-bottom-line/

by James Parks, Apr 25, 2008

Are you tired of reading about which celebrity is having a baby or who was eliminated from “Dancing With the Stars” in your daily newspaper—while critical issues like plunging wages and the rising cost of feeding a family is pushed to back pages? One big reason is there are fewer journalists around to write the news. The Project for Excellence in Journalism reported last month that newsroom staffs have been cut 7 percent overall since 2000, with some slashed as much as 40 percent.

The union movement has argued for years that increased consolidation of media ownership is leading to a lack of diversity and quality in the gathering and reporting of news. As more newspapers—facing stiff competition from TV and online news services—cut back on newsroom staff and coverage, the news quality likely will continue to deteriorate as hard news loses out in favor of covering celebrities..


More than 100 San Jose Guild members, dressed in black, rally in front of the Mercury News to show their support for laid-off workers.


In just the past two months, members of The Newspaper Guild (TNG-CWA) have been laid off, bought out or fired at more than a dozen newspapers as publishers try to cut costs by eliminating payroll. The moves may help the bottom line for newspaper owners, but the public is losing out as fewer real stories are covered in depth.

TNG President Linda Foley says the cutbacks are creating “dire consequences” for the news business and the ability of the nation to get “complete, thorough and accurate information.”

Several scientific studies have shown there is a direct correlation between a reduction in staff and a reduction in the quality of the news. If you have less staff, there are fewer people to report the news, so there is less news. Some things are not going to be covered, and what is covered is not going to be covered as thoroughly.

Here are just a few examples of the rush to the bottom line in the nation’s newsrooms. Over the past two months, MediaNews cut 22 editorial positions at the Los Angeles Daily News, reducing the newsroom staff to 100, cut 50 more positions in the newsroom and elsewhere within the San Jose Mercury News; and bought out another 107 employees in the newspaper cluster it calls the Bay Area News Group-East Bay, or BANG-East Bay.

FULL story at link.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. We have to reinvent the media, I think

to make it more responsible and responsive to its readership. Just not quite sure how to do it and give good journalists the living wage they deserve.