War of attrition
Everybody knows that newspapers and other traditional media are facing a financial crunch like never before. But why does that translate to more government secrets?
A couple of reasons.
True, journalists aren't the only ones that can act as government watchdogs. But most normal people just don't have time to follow government that closely. And the non-profit groups that used to also play that role have diminished and-- in the case of Utah -- all but disappeared.
As news organizations tighten their budgets, they not only put fewer reporters in the field, they don't engage in as many fights over public records because of the possible legal costs involved.
Check out this blog post from a recent National Press Club forum on the topic. Industry downturn spurs government pushback on information.
Not only do news organizations have less money to fight the battles, but government agencies know it and are taking the opportunity to limit public access to records.
-- DH
Labels: secrecy
1 Comments:
In the face of declining revenues newspapers need to think outside the box, Most papers have integrated to both an online and print additions. Take this a step farther record all local a state meetings and provide links to your readers to watch the meetings at their convienence. Reportors could provide summaries of the meetings and allow the public to click and view the meetings they are interested in. It's a logical next step with modern technology this could be done relatively low cost to the paper. It would also fill the traditional watchdog roll the public counted on newspapers to do. tck62
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