The Big News: Shrinking Reportage
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 13, 2006

An explosion of media outlets means we now have more coverage and carping about every conceivable event than ever before in history.

But we also have less reporting.

Hundreds of cable and radio commentators, and millions of bloggers, can sound off about the news in real time. But the number of old-fashioned fact-gatherers is dwindling, and will almost certainly continue to shrink.

In the Philadelphia area, for instance, the number of newspaper reporters has fallen from 500 to 220 in the last quarter-century. Most of the local television stations have cut back on traditional news coverage. Five AM radio stations used to cover news; now there are two. the rest