Americans Abandoning Local Newspapers, Television News

Cutbacks in reporting driving consumers away

Cutbacks at newspapers and local television stations have left the news industry undermanned and unprepared to uncover stories or dig deep into public issues, according to the Pew Research Center's annual report on American journalism.

That conclusion that might be expected to matter most to journalists struggling to keep their jobs. But members of the general public have noticed the cutbacks in quality, which have caused them to turn away from news outlets, reports Pew, a respected nonpartisan organization.

Nearly one-third of US adults have stopped using a news source because it no longer provided them with the quality of coverage they were accustomed to getting. "With reporting resources cut to the bone and fewer specialized beats, journalists' level of expertise in any one area and the ability to go deep into a story are compromised," the report said.