Investigative reporting and newspapers

[Tzigone]

I’ve been following the Trump political stories the past nine days, and, while there’s no smoking gun, there have been several big stories. This morning I think I noticed something, but am not sure I’ve got the details correct. It seems like all of these that weren’t just released to everyone (Special Counsel appointed, etc.), were released/discovered by newspapers, if I’ve got my sources straight.

Trump told Russians classified information - Washington Post
Trump knew Flynn was under investigation - New York Times
Transcripts/tapes of joking about Trump being paid by Russia (though Ryan’s the concerning part of that one to me) - Washington Post
Comey memo about Trump on jailing journalists and Flynn investigation - New York Times

Not sure how to classify this last one
Trump Campaign Undisclosed contact with Russia - Reuters
My point is that none of these came from FOX News, MSNBC, or CNN. None from tv news. The stories were all released in the 24-hour news cycle on the web, of course, but seem to have all come from traditional news sources.* How are these papers doing, money-wise? Will this have any impact on the newspaper industry? I mean, the stories can get picked up and copied all over the web, but someone has to do the initial investigating. I know that’s been discussed before, of course, but I thought this situation brought up a good chance to discuss it again.

• I’m aware of the LM and CT Twitter accounts, but so far, their unique claims have not been verified elsewhere, and thus I’m not including them as important breaking news or investigative journalism. Likewise, not including the Seth Rich conspiracy angle that his family denied and the investigator said he was misquoted about. So far, these are without weight.

[jtur88]

The production of the news media’s output is subject to the same economic laws as everything else. It’s cost-benefit.

I wish I could remember who I recently heard saying this: “It’s cheaper to make news than to find it.”

[Princhester]

They are doing badly, and no this won’t make much difference. The papers concerned will gain or keep a certain amount of kudos, but in the end you don’t sell much more by breaking a story than you do if you merely carry a story broken by someone else.

[Tom_Tildrum]

The investigation is typically minimal; staffers who know journalists socially or who have leaked items to them before call the journalist (or get a call from them) and say they have something, but it’s off the record. Whether the leak is reliable and whether it gets verified anywhere is hit-or-miss.

[chappachula]

@Tom_Tildrum

The investigation is typically minimal; staffers who know journalists socially …

But that’s the whole issue–staff.
Staff is what costs the newspapers money. And since newspapers are losing money, they have to cut their staff.

For the political staff at the White House to leak a story to the journalistic staff of the Washington Post—the Post has to have a large, permanent staff of journalists who visit the White House every day for years on end.

Those years of daily contact (routine and boring contact) result in the social ties. And then maybe those social connections result in a reporter getting a big scoop .
But the big scoops (which increase newspaper sales and profits) are rare…maybe only once a decade or so. And in the meantime the print newspapers have to pay salaries, while profits keep falling and bankruptcy looms.

Democracies all over the world are still functioning, run by politicians who are carefully aware that there are watchdogs from the newspapers following them around daily.
But in another few years, things may be different. Investigative journalism may be impossible.
If all the journalists are laid off, there will be no “boots on the ground”. There will be only bloggers sitting at home in their pajamas, and entertainment shows with “journalists” who never leave the TV studio.

The current wave of valuable reporting about important scandals won’t prevent the decline of the printed press.
Over the past 3 months, have you paid for a newspaper, even once?

[jtur88]

It always amuses me when Scott Pelly signs off with “From all of us, all around the world”. I bet CBS news has no more than two or three paid staffers outside the USA, and they’re just bureau chiefs with their stringers and freelancers on speed dial.

[suranyi]

@chappachula

But that’s the whole issue–staff.
Staff is what costs the newspapers money. And since newspapers are losing money, they have to cut their staff.

For the political staff at the White House to leak a story to the journalistic staff of the Washington Post—the Post has to have a large, permanent staff of journalists who visit the White House every day for years on end.

Those years of daily contact (routine and boring contact) result in the social ties. And then maybe those social connections result in a reporter getting a big scoop .
But the big scoops (which increase newspaper sales and profits) are rare…maybe only once a decade or so. And in the meantime the print newspapers have to pay salaries, while profits keep falling and bankruptcy looms.

Democracies all over the world are still functioning, run by politicians who are carefully aware that there are watchdogs from the newspapers following them around daily.
But in another few years, things may be different. Investigative journalism may be impossible.
If all the journalists are laid off, there will be no “boots on the ground”. There will be only bloggers sitting at home in their pajamas, and entertainment shows with “journalists” who never leave the TV studio.

The current wave of valuable reporting about important scandals won’t prevent the decline of the printed press.
Over the past 3 months, have you paid for a newspaper, even once?

I still subscribe to my local print newspaper, which I read every morning, and to the digital NYT.

The first because it’s the only way I feel I really have a complete picture of what’s going on in the region, and the second because I want to support investigative journalism, what this thread is about.

ETA. My local newspaper just won a Pulitzer Prize this year, so it’s not bad actually.

[Tom_Tildrum]

@chappachula

For the political staff at the White House to leak a story to the journalistic staff of the Washington Post—the Post has to have a large, permanent staff of journalists who visit the White House every day for years on end.

The Post has a staff of eight covering the White House.

[PastTense]

I was just reading an article about the Washington Post about this:

Scoops — and high-quality journalism more generally — are integral to The Post’s business model at a time when the future of digital journalism seemed to be veering toward the lowest common denominator of exploding watermelons and stupid pet tricks.

“Investigative reporting is absolutely critical to our business model,” Mr. Baron told me. “We add value. We tell people what they didn’t already know. We hold government and powerful people and institutions accountable. This cannot happen without financial support. We’re at the point where the public realizes that and is willing to step up and support that work by buying subscriptions.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/business/washington-post-digital-news.html