VCC Magazine Summer 2018

V irginia C apitol C onnections , S ummer 2018 17 Financial pressures and technology reshape Virginia’s news media By Jeff South The press was dubbed the “fourth estate” in 1787 by the British statesman Edmund Burke, who said journalists provided a counterbalance to England’s other centers of power— the clergy, the nobility and the commoners. On this side of the pond, the news media’s nickname fit neatly into the paradigm of governmental organization: Journalists tell us what’s going on in the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. They do that by disseminating news stories, editorials and other content that shape our understanding of how, and how well, government works—and thus influence our political beliefs and candidate preferences. To appreciate what’s happening at the Virginia Capitol, it helps to understand the changes buffeting the state’s news media— the most profound changes since Gutenberg invented the printing press. At the dawn of the internet in the late 1980s, nobody foresaw the rise of new-media platforms that would soak up the advertising previously placed in newspapers, magazines and other legacy media; the success that politicians, interest groups and other entities would enjoy in going over the heads of the media and speaking directly to the public; and the proliferation of digital news organizations, unencumbered by a printing press and sometimes untethered to the ethics (such as strict impartiality) associated with traditional journalism. Welcome to 2018. This year, we’ve seen immense changes in Virginia’s news media. And they will have significant consequences—good, bad and “who knows?”— in the statehouse news Virginians receive. At least 5 local papers shut down Since January, five community newspapers in Virginia announced that they would cease publication: the Hopewell News, the Hanover Herald-Progress in Ashland, the Caroline Progress in Bowling Green, the Clinch Valley Times in St. Paul and the Tazewell County Free Press in Richlands. Those papers were pillars of their communities. “Their average life span was 134 years,” noted John Edwards, editor and publisher of The Smithfield Times. “Together, they served those five Virginia communities a combined 673 years.” The newspapers were shuttered because their owners said that they weren’t commercially viable— that the papers couldn’t turn a profit in the face of declining advertising and subscription revenues. Edwards understands the importance of the bottom line. But he also knows the importance of local journalism—and he fears that without a newspaper, a community will pay a price. “A good community paper, whether it’s on newsprint or digital, is a community’s chronicle, a recording of all that’s important in the lives of its readers,” Edwards wrote in an article published by the Virginia Press Association. “Newspapers have been called the first draft of history. In small communities, they are often the only draft.” The defunct newspapers weren’t necessarily big players in the day-to-day coverage of the General Assembly or the goings-on in the governor’s office. But they all tracked their legislators’ votes and activities and the impact of state policies on local communities. Who will fill that role now? Changes in ownership and management The economic pressures that have forced some newspapers to close also have triggered changes in who controls local media. In May, The Virginian-Pilot, the state’s largest paper with a Sunday circulation of 132,000, was sold to Tronc, owner of the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun and the Daily Press of Newport News. Landmark Media Enterprises, which owned the 153-year-old Pilot, had previously sold off its TV stations and other newspapers, including the Roanoke Times to billionaire Warren Buffet’s BH Media. Tronc is known for cost-cutting—and that worried some Pilot reporters. However, the transaction also opened the door for The Pilot and Daily Press to cooperate and perhaps beef up their coverage at the Capitol. The Virginian-Pilot, which has won three Pulitzers and was a finalist in 2018, has cut back on statehouse reporting in recent years, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Less than a month after the sale of The Pilot, BH Media hired Lee Enterprises to run its newspaper and digital operations, which include the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Daily Progress in Charlottesville and the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg. Lee Enterprises, based in Iowa, publishes more than 45 daily newspapers and nearly 300 other publications. Many journalists have criticized Lee for cutting staff and saw the arrangement as an indication that Buffett had soured on local newspapers. Broadcast stations also are undergoing ownership changes. Notably, Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest television broadcaster in the U.S., is seeking to buy Tribune Media’s TV stations, which include WTVR, the CBS affiliate in Richmond. All-digital startups reporting the news While technology has disrupted legacy media, it also has fostered new media organizations. That’s true not only at the national level (such as BuzzFeed, HuffPost and ProPublica) but also in Virginia. All-digital news outlets span from Inside NoVa to RVA Hub to the Hampton Roads Alt Daily, and they include specialty websites such as Richmond BizSense and GayRVA. In July, another new startup launched: the Virginia Mercury. Staffed by three former Times-Dispatch reporters and a former Pilot reporter, it will focus on state government, public policy and such issues as the environment, health care and campaign finance. Unlike most news websites, which rely on advertising, the Mercury will be a nonprofit. It has seed funding as part of a national nonprofit initiative called The Newsroom, which supports such sites as NC Policy Watch and Maryland Matters. The Virginia Mercury’s content will be available for free. Supporters of the project hope it will become self-sustaining through reader contributions and other donations. Robert Zullo, the site’s editor, said his staff will focus on the big picture at the Capitol. “To a big extent, we’re going to be figuring this out as we go along—figuring out what’s our niche, what makes sense to use our small staff on,” Zullo told Richmond BizSense. “The idea is really not to chase what everyone else is doing and try to see where we can fill a gap in news coverage of the state. Where I see that right now is in policy coverage.” Jeff South is an associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in the Robertson School of Media and Culture at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he joined the faculty in 1997 under the mistaken impression he’d have summers off. Before moving into academia, he was a newspaper reporter and editor for 20 years in Texas, Arizona and Virginia. Over the years, South’s students have won more than 30 awards for political reporting and other coverage. V