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A new report from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) warned that the "independent watchdog function that the founding fathers envisioned for journalism" was at risk in local communities across the US. The report said there was a "shortage of local, professional, accountability reporting" that could lead to "more government waste, more local corruption," "less effective schools," and other problems. The 475-page report is the product of an 18-month effort to explore the turmoil sweeping the traditional media business in the US.

While there has been an explosion of new media platforms, quality has declined. "As technology offered new choices, it upended traditional business models, resulting in massive job losses," the FCC said. Newspapers in the US have seen a sharp drop in revenue because of the weakening economy and a shift by advertisers to free or cheaper alternatives on the internet. Newspapers have cut staff and shrunk their publications. Staffing levels at daily newspapers in the US have fallen by more than 25 percent since 2001, the AP reported.

The result has been "gaps in coverage that the digital world has yet to fill," the FCC report states. The media deficits in many communities are consequential. "A shortage of reporting manifests itself in invisible ways: stories not written, scandals not exposed, government waste not discovered, health dangers not identified in time, local elections involving candidates about whom we know little," the FCC says. "The less quality reporting we have, the less likely we are to learn about government misdeeds,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said.

The report's recommendations include creating public affairs cable channels similar to C-SPAN at the state level, easing tax rules for non-profit news organizations, and directing more federal advertising spending to local news media. But the FCC report also makes clear that the First Amendment limits the government's role in shaping the future of the media industry. "Government is not the main player in this drama," it says. The report is titled, "The Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/06/fcc-report-on-media-warns-of-decline-in-quality-local-news-.html