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Fewer Reporters In Tallahassee Prowling State Halls

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By WILLIAM MARCH | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 10, 2009

TAMPA - In Tallahassee, the cat's away.

As the Florida Legislature begins its 2009 session – a session that will see budget cuts and decisions affecting everything from education to health care – the newspaper press corps covering state government has shrunk to its smallest level in recent memory.

No one keeps exact numbers, but insiders say the number of full-time Tallahassee beat reporters has declined by half or more over three to four years. Many fear that poses a risk that stories important to the public will be left uncovered.

Tallahassee public relations consultant Ron Sachs, a former high-level official in the administration of Gov. Lawton Chiles, calls it "a real crack in the foundation of our democracy."

The decline has caused some competing news organizations to merge their Tallahassee bureau operations. Editors say those mergers mean reporters aren't stretched so thin, but some critics say they also cut competition and the number of independent watchdogs.

The decline is part of a nationwide drop in newspaper reporters because of the industry's economic problems. The American Society of Newspaper Editors, which surveys newsrooms annually, found 52,600 newsroom workers in 2008, a 7 percent drop from a historic high of 56,400 in 2001.

Capital beat reporters are declining at a faster rate, perhaps by as much as 25 percent since 2000.

"We're the canaries in the coal mine," said Tiffany Shackelford, executive director of the Association of Capital Reporters and Editors.

Her group's membership has dropped 25 percent in the past year-and-a-half, and four of its 14 board members have lost their reporting jobs.

In Tallahassee, even lobbyists and legislators – the mice the reporter-cats are supposed to chase – express concern.

"The scrutiny of the press is a critical aspect of the functioning of government," said Martha Barnett, a veteran of some three decades of lobbying and high-level government and political involvement in Tallahassee. "My perception is the press corps is getting thinner every day."

State Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, mentioned the change in a floor speech during the Legislature's January special session.

"Look up in the balcony [the press gallery] and there's about 25 percent of what there used to be," Crist said, recounting his speech in an interview.

State Sen. Dan Gelber, a candidate for U.S. Senate, has voiced concern on his personal blog.

"All elected officials need to be watched," Gelber said. "Some bemoan the loss of the press corps, and some celebrate it for all the wrong reasons – they're perfectly happy with fewer people looking over their shoulders."

Exact Numbers

Tallahassee's Capitol Police had 87 active press pass holders for the Legislator's January special session, including photographers, broadcast crews, clerks, bloggers and niche journalists.

Senate spokeswoman Jaryn Emhof estimated about 18-20 were full-time newspaper reporters, including some on temporary assignments – or roughly one for every 165 registered lobbyists.

For decades, most newspapers and some broadcasters have had headquarters in the Florida Press Association building near the Capitol. The Press Association itself moved out of the building in 1999 to leave more space for reporters.

Now, with empty desks and offices throughout the building, it's moving back in.

It will reoccupy an office filled for decades by The Tampa Tribune, whose Tallahassee numbers have declined along with others. In the last two years, it has cut back from three full-time reporters to one.

Association President Dean Ridings estimated the capitol press corps is around half its size three years ago.

It's hard to say whether stories are being missed as a result, Gelber said -- "I don't know what I'm missing because I don't know what I don't know."

But the Florida Legislature, made up of part-time lawmakers in session for only 60 days a year, is famous for hastily passed deals slapped together late at night as the session ends, said Barbara Peterson of the First Amendment Foundation, a advocacy group for government openness.

Reporters, state officials and legislators themselves sometimes spend weeks or months figuring out exactly what the Legislature did. Without a healthy press corps, Peterson said, key wrinkles might go unreported.

She mentioned a 1997 measure inserted into a bill late in the session by state Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, at the suggestion of a lobbyist, which allowed the state to sell driver license photos to private businesses.

It sparked outrage, and was repealed, when newspapers later reported it. Peterson questioned whether that would happen today.

Mergers An Answer?

Sachs recommended in a recent opinion piece that all newspapers covering Tallahassee combine to form a "super bureau" – "before it's too late to realize what we've lost."

Scott Montgomery, government and politics editor of the St. Petersburg Times, said the merger "allows us to cover more things. There's a lot to be done in Tallahassee – you don't need competition for the sake of competition."

The Orlando Sentinel has merged its Tallahassee bureau with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale – both were down to one person each. The Tampa Tribune is considering merger possibilities.

"Competition is a great thing, but I would choose to have more bodies rather than fewer bodies with more competing organizations," said Sentinel government and politics editor Bob Shaw.

But Gelber cautioned, "If you end up with just a few competing bureaus, you're going to lose some of the independent spirit that's important in the free market sand in the free press."

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