Editors fear the web

Newspaper editors are fearful of the web and are between the advantages the web offers and the energy it consumes to produce material often of limited or even questionable value.

That's the verdict of the Project for Excellence in journalism which has today issued a report on the changing face of the American newspaper newsroom.

It finds that

It has fewer pages than three years ago, the paper stock is thinner, and the stories are shorter. There is less foreign and national news, less space devoted to science, the arts, features and a range of specialized 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.

Amongst its key findings are

1.that cutbacks in staffing continue leading to the amount of coverage they give to their readers

2.that papers have reduced the amount of topics covered.

3.there has been a change in the dynamics of the newsroom

New job demands are drawing a generation of young, versatile, tech-savvy, high-energy staff as financial pressures drive out higher-salaried veteran reporters and editors.

and

4.that web based output is still viewed with a certain amount of fear

However it's not all gloom and doom

editors still sense that their product is improving, not worsening. Fully 56% think their news product is better than it was three years earlier.