Newsroom cuts hurting quality?

Matt Sokoloff July 22nd, 2008

According to an AP story about a study done by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, newspaper cutbacks are affecting the quality of their product. When you actually read the story or the results (as opposed to just the CNN headline) it tells a different story. They say that “nearly two thirds of papers surveyed have cut back on foreign news, over half have trimmed national news and more than a third have reduced business coverage.”

The study goes on to say “In effect, America’s newspapers are narrowing their reach and their ambitions and becoming niche reads.” Yes they are becoming niche reads. And their niche is local. Is there something wrong with that? Probably not since the study points out that more than half of the editors surveyed “think their news product is better than it was three years earlier.” Read more for the other three “major findings.”

UPDATE: I found a much better article (NY Times) on the study.

• “The majority of newspapers are now suffering cutbacks in staffing, and even more in the amount of news, or newshole, they offer the public.”

• “The culture of the daily newspaper newsroom is also changing. New job demands are drawing a generation of young, versatile, tech-savvy, high-energy staff as financial pressures drive out higher-salaried veteran reporters and editors.”

• “Newspaper websites are increasingly a source of hope but also of fear. Editors feel torn between the advantages the web offers and the energy it consumes to produce material often of limited or even questionable value.”

Full report available here.