– by James Parks
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. Asmore 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..
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.
The New York Times announced last week it likely will lay off newsroom staff because not enough employees appear to be taking a voluntary buy-out.
The Tribune Co. also is slashing jobs, eliminating 120 positions at Newsday—including 36 newsroom buyouts—following cuts of 100 or more in February at the Los Angeles Timesand Chicago Tribune. The Tribune’s new owner, Sam Zell, also told employees at theBaltimore Sun he may end up selling the paper, despite earlier pronouncements he would keep the chain intact. And, in any case, the Sun’s real estate holdings, including its headquarters, are “worth a lot” and could be headed for the auction block.
Some readers are fighting back. The Long Beach (Calif.) City Council threatened to pull its legal and other city-paid advertising from the Long Beach Press-Telegram because of the growing erosion of local coverage. Dozens of union jobs were lost last month when MediaNews combined most operations of the nonunion Torrance Daily Breeze and thePress-Telegram.
The consolidation resulted in 23 Guild members at the Press-Telegram being “invited” to apply for just 12 positions at the nonunion Daily Breeze, a move TNG says is an attempt by the company to bust the union by merging unionized operations with nonunion shops.
But such cutbacks are not the only reason coverage is suffering, Foley says.
Most newsrooms are piling on extra work, adding stress to staffers, as well as chances for mistakes and a reduction in “extra time” for sourcing and reporting. The biggest complaint is that people don’t have enough time to devote to reporting that they need. They have to jump back and forth. You used to shoot for one deadline, and you would work for that. Now it is constant updating; the deadline is continuous, and it causes stress.