Newsroom personnel cuts,shorter and fewer news stories or video “packages,”and less coverage of live new events are taking a toll on the overall newspaper/television industry.
According to a new study from the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism,the news industry in 2013 “is more undermanned and unprepared to uncover stories,dig deep into emerging ones or to question information put into its hands.”
A public opinion survey included in the annual survey found that nearly one-third of respondents (31 percent) have deserted a news outlet because it no longer provides the news and information they were accustomed to getting.
And as news reportage shrinks,the study said there are growing opportunities for those in politics,government agencies,and business to take their messages directly to the public by using digital technology and social media —without any filter by the traditional media.
The report identifies six major trends in 2013,as follows:
1. Americans are noticing the effects of a decade of newsroom cutbacks:More men than women —and more well-educated and higher-income Americans —have stopped turning to a news outlet because it no longer provides them with the information they had come to expect. With reporting resources cut to the bone and fewer specialized beats,journalists’ level of expertise in any one area and the ability to go deep into a story are compromised.
Read More at CNS News . By Susan Jones.
Photo Credit:judsond (Creative Commons)