state capitol beat reporting
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State Capitol Beat Reporting
It’s a thin line between reporting
and democracy
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In The Beginning ’60s, ’70s, ’80s-era politics make state capitol
reporting popular Open-government reform, papers had statewide
presence
Investigative/Watchdog journalism “In the ’60s and ’70s you could stay on top of a lot
of American politics and government by having great Washington Bureau” – Robin Toner, chief of correspondents, New York Times
Newspapers were flourishing Morning/afternoon publications Readership still high Big advertising = Big budgets
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In The Beginning
State capitols were well covered Statehouse reporters among the elite
1981 – Albany’s Legislative Correspondents Association had 59 members from 31 news organizations (Peters, 2008)
Committee once decided who would get seats inside main New York capitol press room versus seating in outer offices (Peters, 2008)
1970s-1980s – All 20 of Iowa’s state capitol press seats full during crucial votes (David Westphal)
Mid-1980s – Detroit capitol press corps had as many as 25 newspaper reporters alone (Layton & Walton, 2008)
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The Beginning Of The End
Newspaper readership begins steady decline, ad dollars go with it
Industry began to plateau Readership – along with circulation numbers –
actually started dropping in 1970s, further decrease in late 1980s and 1990s (Shaw, 1989; Koch, 1998)
Afternoon newspapers thing of the past
Even TV, radio see declining audience Shift in coverage of hard-hitting news to
soft, lighter news, hyper-focused (Jost, 2006)
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Trends In Recent Years What used to be a lucrative business, tough
competition for well-rounded, informative local/ state/national news coverage is weakening (Steiger, 2007)
Newspapers being bought out by larger media conglomerates, companies merging
2007 – News Corp. led by Rupert Murdoch, took over Wall Street Journal and its publisher, Dow Jones & Co.
2007 –Sam Zell, a real estate entrepreneur, bought out the Tribune Co., taking over Los Angeles Times
Newsrooms are shrinking 2005 – Roughly 2,000 positions slashed at newspapers
across the nation (Jost, 2006) 500 positions at the New York Times Co. 75 positions at the Philadelphia Inquirer 25 positions at the Philadelphia Daily News
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What Does That Mean For State Capitol Reporting?
As newsrooms, budgets get cut so does the statehouse press corps
Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors: membership declines from 380 in 2006 to 250 in 2008
AJR: Full-time state capitol reporters fall from 543 in 2000 to 510 in 2002 ACRE reports in 2007, number down to 407
Iowa: 20 press corps reporters drops to 3-4 New York: New York Sun, Staten Island Advance, Post-
Standard, Daily Gazette of, Times Herald-Record all removed statehouse reporters from Capitol since 2007 (Peters, 2008)
Albany’s legislative Correspondents Association: Falls to 51 members from 29 organizations in 2001, to 42 members from 27 organizations in 2008
Detroit: 25-member press corps drops to 15 in 1998 (Layton & Walton, 1998)
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What Does That Mean For State Capitol Reporting?
California: LA Times/Sacramento Bee cut back
Dan Walters sees 25-33 percent shrinkage in state capitol press corps in last few years Sacramento Bee: 1/3 shrinkage According to Walters, 12 would be magic number
for the Bee’s Capitol bureau
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Current Figures:AJR
CALIFORNIA--Down Paper / FT / Session help? / Status Los Angeles Times / 7 / N / UpSan Francisco Chronicle / 2 / N / DownOrange County Register / 1 / N / DownSacramento Bee / 10 / N / UnchangedSan Diego Union-Tribune / 2 / N / UnchangedPress-Enterprise / 1 / N / UnchangedFresno Bee / 1 / N / UnchangedRecord (Stockton) / 0 / N / DownBakersfield Californian / 0 / N / DownVentura County Star / 1 / N / UnchangedMediaNews Newspapers / 3 / N / DownGannett News Service / 1 / N / UnchangedCopley News Service / 0 / N / Down
FLORIDA--Down Paper / FT / Session help? / Status Herald/St. Petersburg Times / 5 / Y / DownSun-Sentinel / 1 / N / DownTampa Tribune / 1 / Y / DownPalm Beach Post / 1 / N / DownOrlando Sentinel / 1 / N / DownFla. Times-Union / 1 / N / DownDaytona Beach News-Journal / 1 / N / DownTallahassee Democrat / 3 / N / Down
ILLINOIS--Down Paper / FT / Session help? / Status Chicago Tribune / 2 / Y / DownChicago Sun-Times / 1 / N / UnchangedGatehouse Media / 3 / N / DownDaily Herald / 2 / N / UnchangedRockford Register Star Ga / 0 / N / DownPantagraph / 0 / N / DownNews-Gazette / 0 / N / Down
NEW YORK--Down Paper / FT / Session help? / Status New York Times NY / 3 / N / UpDaily News / 4 / N / UpNewsday / 1 / N / DownNew York Post / 2 / N / UnchangedBuffalo News / 1 / N / UnchangedWatertown Daily Times / 1 / N / UnchangedSyracuse Post-Standard / 1 / N / UnchangedStaten Island Advance / 0 / N / DownDaily Gazette / 0 / N / DownTimes Union / 3 / N / UpOttaway News Service / 0 / N / DownGannett Newspapers G / 3 / N / UnchangedRecord / 0 / N / DownPost-Journal / 0 / N / Down
FT = Full-time reportersSession help? = Does paper add one or more full-time staffers for legislative session?Status = Is staffing up, down or unchanged since 2003?
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What Does It All Mean?! “There are fewer and
fewer people and the amount of information they are collecting and the quality of it has gone down so much that people don’t really know what’s going on up in the Capitol.”
– Hannah-Beth Jackson, former assemblywoman
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What Does It All Mean?!
“The day to day coverage of what’s happening is being covered to a certain extent. What’s missing is the time doing that investigative stuff, where the icing is.”
– Dan Walters,
Sacramento Bee columnist
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Statehouse Reporting And Democracy
Relationship with the public: Agenda-setting
People often consider topics covered by the media to be important in American politics The more state politics is covered, the more
heightened that perception is (Cooper, 2007)
“The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about.”
– Bernard Cohen
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Statehouse Reporting And Democracy
Relationship with public officials: Politicians use media to learn what the public’s
wants, needs (Herbst, 1996)
Politicians use media to further their agendas (Cook 1998)
Method of communication Connect with the constituents
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Statehouse Reporting And Democracy
Symbiotic Relationship: Lawmakers need media to achieve policy goals
(Cook, 1989; Kedrowski, 1996)
In turn news media need lawmakers, have influence in the policy process
The Muckraking Model by Molotch, Protess, and Gordon (1987)
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Statehouse Reporting And Democracy
“The appetite for content is as strong as its ever been, particularly with Schwarzenegger in that role and particularly with the state in a financial crisis.”
– Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee columnist
“In a democracy where people make choices, it’s important they make good choices or well-informed choices”
– Hanna-Beth Jackson, former assemblywoman
“It’s discouraging, because there’s just so much power in the state government … (If newspapers aren’t reporting) it deprives journalism of one of its sources of legitimacy: to be that watchdog. And it’s not as if we’re functioning in a transparent environment. People are working hard to conceal stuff.” – Evan Cornog, associate dean at Columbia University School
of Journalism
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The Future of Statehouse Reporting
Non-profit organizations
Pew Center on the States
Public Policy Institute of California
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The Future of Statehouse Reporting
Internet outlets The Capitol Morning
Report (CA) Published weekdays,
legislative play-by-play
Subscription-based
Capitol Alert Free, update
frequently
Pension Tsunami Niche news about
state’s pension issues