Study: Cutbacks hurt newspaper quality

NEW YORK — The many and deepening cuts at newspapers across the country are starting to take a toll on their content, according to a study being released today.

The challenge newspapers must immediately meet is to find more revenue on the Internet, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's study, called "The Changing Newsroom: What is Being Gained and What is Being Lost in America's Daily Newspapers."

Newspaper managers need to "find a way to monetize the rapid growth of Web readership before newsroom staff cuts so weaken newspapers that their competitive advantage disappears."

Stories are shorter overall, the study found, and staff coverage tends to focus on local and community news.

"America's newspapers are narrowing their reach and their ambitions and becoming niche reads," the study said.

Foreign and national news is being relegated to less-prominent pages.

In May, The Seattle Times Co. sliced the staff at its flagship newspaper by 125 employees. Before the cuts, The Times had 1,845 full-time and part-time employees.

In the newsroom, 19 workers accepted buyouts. Fifteen newsroom employees were laid off, including most suburban reporters.

The reasons for newsroom cutbacks nationwide are well known: Newsprint costs have jumped, and advertising and circulation revenue have quickened their descent this year as advertisers follow readers online.

Newspaper Web sites capture only a small fraction of the revenue lost as they sell fewer print ads, which fetch more money.

"The seams and threads are beginning to show in U.S. journalism even though newspapers are by far the greatest source of news," said Lou Ureneck, chairman of the journalism department at Boston University.

The PEJ study surveyed senior newsroom executives at more than 250 newspapers and interviewed editors at papers in 15 cities to document the way these cuts have affected newsrooms and the quality of their product.

The results show that papers carry fewer stories on foreign and national news and devote less space to business, science and arts reporting, and many have reduced the crossword puzzle and eliminated television and stock listings.

Many editors said they must ask reporters to cover more beats, which reduces their ability to produce authoritative stories. Others said staff cutbacks reduce their ability to shape coverage to fit their communities' needs.

"This is a strategic move not driven by lack of demand but [by] a revenue model that is broken," Ureneck said.

Still, 56 percent of the editors surveyed said their news product is better than it was three years ago because coverage is more targeted.