While the web continues to grow, the number of newspapers--and newspaper reporters--continues to decline. Grits for Breakfast tells us that the reporter who broke the story about abuse at the Texas Youth Commission last spring lost her job. Actually her position was cut, so she wasn't really fired.
Grits reminds us that the number of reporters who cover sessions of the Texas Legislature has declined drastically over the past few decades. Since newspapers are still the principle source of information that the public has about the activities of government, how capable are we of monitoring their activities. Some would argue that the web more than makes up for the deficiency since coverage is more open ended. Anyone can do this now, but does that mean that it will be done well, by professionals that are paid to do it?
This is still unresolved in my opinion.
