Pew Center: Foreign, niche reporters fill DC journalism void
Last month, PRWeek reported that Washington bureau cutbacks by many mainstream media outlets are resulting in fewer story opportunities, less experienced correspondents, and more work for communications pros.
However, the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism explained in data released February 11 that the situation “is not so much smaller as it is dramatically transformed.”
Although the number of mainstream media reporters has shrunk, a corps of niche media journalists has grown in its place. The organization reports that online newsletter ClimateWire has more than twice as many Capitol Hill journalists as Hearst News Service, and Mother Jones has about as many Washington reporters as Time. Foreign outlets have also stepped into the void. Al Jazeera has 105 staffers accredited to cover Congress, only 24 less than CBS News, according to the report.
