State of the Statehouse coverage

An America Journalism Review survey makes an unsurprising finding - the number of statehouse reporters is down sharply:

This winter, AJR conducted its fifth census of newspaper reporters who cover state government, its first since 2003, and found a staggering loss of reporting firepower at America's state capitols.

The tally found only 355 full-time newspaper reporters at the nation's state capitols, a 32 percent decrease from just six years ago. It discovered that 44 statehouses have fewer full-time reporters than they did six years ago. The number of full-time reporters remained the same in four states and increased modestly in two.

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In California, eight of 15 newspapers have cut back on Capitol coverage. The state, which has one of the nation's worst budget crises, had 40 full-time newspaper reporters at the statehouse in 2003. That number has fallen to 29.