The newspaper industry in the United States is different from that in Britain - but I wonder if the findings of a recent study into local reporting in America would find an echo here.
It discovered that an explosion of online news sources has not produced a corresponding increase in reporting, particularly quality local reporting.
Coverage of state governments and municipalities has receded at such an alarming pace that it has left government with more power than ever to set the agenda and have assertions unchallenged.
That's the key conclusion to the study, Information needs of communities, which was ordered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and written by Steven Waldman, a former journalist for Newsweek and US News and World Report.
He wrote: "In many communities, we now face a shortage of local, professional, accountability reporting. The independent watchdog function that the founding fathers envisioned for journalism... is, in some cases, at risk."
Waldman's report runs to 360 pages and, according a Columbia Journalism Review report, has been meticulously researched - "one of the most substantial syntheses of media doom-and-gloom data you're likely to find."
It adds: "The concern, and rightfully so, is about undervalued, under-resourced, struggling local news operations. It's stirring stuff."
The report had relatively modest aims: to assess the health of the US media industry and determine whether government policies that affect the industry are in sync in the digital age.
Waldman ending up painting a dim portrait of local media. His reports states:
"Breathtaking media abundance lives side by side with serious shortages in reporting.
Communities benefit tremendously from many innovations brought by the internet and simultaneously suffer from the dislocations caused by the seismic changes in media markets."
He added that with fewer reporters available to tackle in-depth topics, news releases from politicians end up having more influence and contribute to a power shift towards institutions and away from citizens.
But Waldman came away thinking there was little that the federal government could do to change that.
Sources: FCC/New York Times/Columbia Journalism Review
