Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Journalism on the go more than ever

As this essay by Alex Salkever on Streetfight, a blog devoted to reporting all things hyperlocal, says, the move by the Washington Post to close all but a couple of its bureaus shouldn't be surprising given the changes in the industry. It's a fundamentally sound decision aimed at cutting unnecessary costs, which (hopefully) will be spent increasing reporting. Unfortunately American businesses have a poor track record on this strategy. For example the insurance industry started these moves years ago with the result seeing declining numbers of agents along with declining service and declining profits.

Still, today's reporters can do their work in the field using basic backpack journalism equipment, which does cut costs dramatically. I look for more of this.

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