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NARROWING REACH: Sixty-four per cent of the 259 newspapers surveyed reported cutting the space given to foreign news even though the US is involved in wars overseas, like this one in Afghanistan. -- PHOTO: AP
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NEW YORK - ALMOST two-thirds of American newspapers publish less foreign news than they did just three years ago and most of them have smaller news staff despite new demands like blogs and video, a study said.
The numerous and deepening cuts at newspapers are starting to take a toll on their content, said the study by the Pew Research Centre's Project for Excellence in Journalism called The Changing Newsroom.
Based on a survey of the top editors at 259 newspapers of all sizes, the study found that stories are shorter overall and staff coverage tends to focus on local and community news.
Less space is devoted to science, the arts, features and a range of specialised subjects.
Business coverage is either packaged in an increasingly thin stand-alone section or collapsed into another part of the paper. The crossword puzzle has shrunk, the TV listings and stock tables may have disappeared, but coverage of some local issues has strengthened and investigative reporting remains highly valued.
'In effect, US newspapers are narrowing their reach and their ambitions and becoming niche reads,' said the study.
Sixty-four per cent of the newspapers reported cutting the space given to foreign news over three years, making that the area that has suffered as the business contracts.
Only 10 per cent of the editors said they considered foreign news 'very essential' to their papers.
Said Mr Tom Rosenstiel, director of Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism: 'It's really of concern when we have two wars overseas, our economy is more global, we're competing with economies that are growing faster than ours, and our dependence on foreign oil is one of the biggest stories.'
Newspapers have faced unprecedented challenges in recent years as readers and advertisers shifted to other outlets, mostly on the Internet.
Many newspapers have more readers today than ever, counting their dot.com operations, but those generate only a fraction of the revenue online that they do in print.
The challenge 'is to find a way to monetise the rapid growth of Web readership before newsroom staff cuts so weaken newspapers that their competitive advantage disappears', the researchers concluded.
The urgency of the situation has been dramatised in recent weeks by cutbacks at some of the country's most prestigious papers, including The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.
The reasons for the newsroom cutbacks are linked to rising newsprint costs and falling advertising revenue and circulation as advertisers follow readers online.
The study also found that editors once leery of producing content for the Web are increasingly embracing its potential to diversify readership and improve journalism.
Editors see the ability to track readership of any specific story online as an advantage for improving content, it said.
NEW YORK TIMES, LOS ANGELES TIMES, ASSOCIATED PRESS
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