State Capitol Beat Reporting

It’s a thin line between reporting

and democracy

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

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)

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)

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

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)

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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)

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

The Future of Statehouse Reporting

Non-profit organizations

Pew Center on the States

Public Policy Institute of California

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