Editors Worry About Budgets, Govt. Secrecy

By: Joe Strupp As newsroom leaders and staffers venture into 2003, they seem to be facing a bit of a New Year's Eve hangover, with many of the same worries that dogged them last year waiting to make trouble this year. Budget cuts remain among the chief issues for editorial employees, followed closely by a concern over the growing number of restrictions being placed on access to government information.

Add to those concerns a new focus on a likely war with Iraq, the rumblings of another presidential race taking shape, and ongoing attention to corporate misdeeds that began with the Enron and Worldcom affairs -- and the print news-gathering industry has plenty to fill journalists' plates.

"It's a real mixed picture," says Scott Bosley, executive director of the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE), who says limits on government records are still his biggest concern. "I think some of us have taken for granted too long the access to information. There are a lot of challenges ahead [involving access] with the war on terrorism and military conflicts."

Henry Holcomb, president of The Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia and a veteran reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer, thinks so, too. "The government attitude is to keep things more and more secretive," he told E&P. "We need a resolve not to be willing to quietly go away."

Whether it's the White House and Pentagon's refusal to release information they deem sensitive or state governments such as Florida's and New Jersey's seeking to keep everything from autopsy reports to farm addresses secret, the mounting effort to provide less access to public records is making journalists' lives difficult.

"It is a real handicap," says Nicole Brodeur, a columnist at The Seattle Times, who warns that the growing restrictions will make reporting increasingly limited if they are not opposed. "It's a lot harder, and you are having to put up with more and more of a fight."

But do newspapers and their owners have the resolve to battle the efforts to impose secrecy? So far, journalist groups have picked up the gauntlet, but few media companies or newspaper chains have chosen to make public access an important issue.

"Too many editors and too many reporters are letting this issue slide," says Tim McGuire, former president of ASNE and recently retired editor of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. "Too many people have their heads down." Like most critics, McGuire, now a United Feature Syndicate columnist, linked the lack of protest to newspaper budget problems, which, in many cases, have forced papers to cut spending on investigative reporting, legal battles to gain access, and hiring.

"Most newspapers have been squeezed for cost-savings, and there is a challenge of putting your people in the right place, making the best use of the resources you have," says Paul E. Steiger, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, which laid off 23 editorial people in the fall and trimmed its newsroom staff by nearly 10% last year. "That is a big concern."

Robert Rivard, editor of the San Antonio Express-News, says he had been forced to keep about 15 editorial jobs open last year and sees little hope for major funding increases ahead. "It's a challenge, and we are looking for the day when we can fill them," he says.

Meanwhile, newspapers are having to gear up for closer scrutiny of big business. "Getting the American economy back on track is a crucial issue," says Steiger. "Second only to the war on terrorism. And if the war, on multiple fronts, gets messy, that threatens this rather shaky economy."

Other editors, especially those at papers with strong military links, say war coverage will require more resources, possibly drawing staffers from other assignments.

"The war is a big one because it is a local story for us," says Karin Winner, editor of The San Diego Union-Tribune, whose circulation area includes numerous military bases. "Managing expenses will be tough."

Responding to the growing demand for newsroom training also is an issue in the new year, according to editors and staffers. With increased specialized knowledge needed for military coverage, business reporting, and other specific areas, the newsroom dollar must stretch further. "There is going to be a call for action for newsrooms to provide more training," says Mike Leonard, a columnist for the Herald-Times in Bloomington, Ind., and president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. "There is a recognition that we can't remain static -- especially when we have to do more with less."