Quality Journalism

via FreePress
The headlines are bleak. Tens of thousands of journalists have lost their jobs in just the past few years. Major dailies throughout the country have been shuttered or gone bankrupt, and it seems only a matter of time before a major American city wakes up without a newspaper on anyone’s doorstep.

Runaway media consolidation and bad business decisions – made worse by the economic downturn -- have caused the disappearance of bureaus in foreign countries, state capitals and Washington, D.C. The number of newspapers with Washington bureaus has dropped by more than 50 percent since 1985, and half the states no longer have a newspaper reporter covering Congress. In local TV, still the nation’s most popular news source, news staffs that were already too small to cover their communities are being reduced further.
While many mainstream outlets have struggled to adapt to the digital world, exciting new experiments in news production are cropping up all over, especially online. The blogosphere is thriving and new technology – for those who can afford it – is creating new avenues for political participation. Yet online outlets remain largely underfunded, understaffed and unable to replace the quantity and scope of news production that is disappearing around them.

Policy Problem, Policy Solutions

The erosion of American journalism hinders the public’s right to know: Without quality journalism that holds our government and corporate leaders accountable, our democracy suffers. But the state of journalism isn’t natural, inevitable or acceptable.
Our media system was shaped by political and public policy decisions made by Congress and the Federal Communications Commission in Washington. Lawmakers and regulators at these agencies rubber-stamped the bad deals that led to the unchecked consolidation and crushing debt that now threaten the health of our press.
It will take good policy decisions – and the political will to make them -- to identify and support innovative online and offline models, to keep reporters on the beat, and to support the quality journalism our democracy requires.

A National Journalism Strategy

The search for solutions to the crisis in journalism calls for a national journalism strategy premised on the idea that newsgathering is a public service – not just another commodity.
Read the FreePress report: Saving the News: Toward a National Journalism Strategy