Journalism at risk when it’s needed most

Remarkable journalism exposed corruption, righted wrongdoings and held government accountable in 2019. This was highlighted by the recently announced Investigative Reporters & Editors awards

Despite surging readership, the pandemic is accelerating the downward spiral of the news business.

Honorees exposed abuse of children, bribery and state prison system failures, among other wrongs. Sadly, the list could be a high-water mark.

While news readership is surging during the pandemic, many outlets are doing stellar work and reporters’ zeal for investigative work continues. But that’s not enough. The crisis is accelerating the downward spiral of the news business.

Several IRE winners and finalists work for publishers that recently went bankrupt or are in a tenuous position under new ownership. Across all U.S. media, newsroom employment fell 25%, shedding 28,000 jobs, from 2008 to 2018, according to Pew Research. At newspapers, newsroom jobs fell 47% over that decade. At least 1,800 newspapers went out of business since 2004.

That could be repeated in a single year. So far the crisis has resulted in 28,000 news workers being laid off, furloughed or having pay cut, according to a New York Times estimate. Some newspapers are dropping editions or suspending print altogether.

“Clearly this is going to be an extinction event for some news publishers,” industry analyst Ken Doctor told USA Today.

Every industry is suffering, and all workers are important. As the nation works to shore them up, it must also ensure the free press survives and continues to perform its essential role informing the public and holding institutions accountable.

Newspapers have been an essential business since the First Amendment was ratified. Democracy depends on a free press to inform voters. The press also provides critical information, particularly during a crisis.

Local newspapers continue to provide most original reporting in their communities. They “significantly outperform local TV, radio, and online-only outlets in news production, both in overall story output and in terms of stories that are original, local, or address a critical information need,” a 2019 Duke University study found.

With advertising and content being siphoned by online giants, press survival increasingly depends on subscribers and philanthropy. It will also require federal support this year.

That’s just sustenance. As newspapers contract, fewer may be willing or able to devote resources to investigations.

That makes this year’s IRE awards all the more remarkable.

The Chicago Tribune, working with nonprofit ProPublica, was a finalist for exposing schools wrongly confining and restraining children as young as 5. That was in 2019. In early 2020, some staffers are pleading for a philanthropist to rescue the paper.

Also lauded were stories published by Gannett papers in Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina. The stories exposed shoddy work of doctors denying disability claims, police seizing property from innocent people and drug cartels in the U.S. Gannett has merged with GateHouse Media, an outfit known for trimming newsrooms. The company recently ordered staff to take a week off without pay.

McClatchy’s Miami Herald, El Nuevo Herald and Washington bureau were lauded for exposing corruption by a giant engineeringcompany. M cC la tc hy has since gone bankrupt. Its likely buyer is the hedge fund controlling The National Enquirer.

On the bright side are IRE wins by organizations pursuing new business models.

The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit co-founded by a venture capitalist, won for exposing voter-roll shenanigans that disenfranchised thousands of voters. The Philadelphia Inquirer, which was saved by a billionaire who donated it to a nonprofit institute, was lauded for exposing abuse at a youth reform school.

But there are only so many billionaires supporting journalism. Thousands of communities no longer have a local newspaper or only have ghost papers with little reporting.

The pandemic is highlighting how critical local news coverage is to every community, much less award-winning accountability journalism.

America’s free press is essential, gravely threatened and must be preserved.

— The Seattle Times