by Walter Brasch
Wednesday, I called the newsrooms of Pennsylvania’s two largest newspapers.
All I got were disembodied voices telling me no one was available and to leave a message.
It was 11 a.m., and I thought someone—anyone!—should have answered their phones. But, with publishers doing their best to “maximize profits” by cutting news coverage and reporters, I figured they either didn’t have anyone capable of answering a phone or figured no one would be calling with any news that day.
So I left a message. It was a routine question, specific for each newspaper and related to verifying information from their papers for a book I was completing.
I left another message the next day. I would have called individual assignment reporters, but unlike the websites of many smaller newspapers, the metros’ websites didn’t have that information. Apparently, they don’t want readers to know who does what at their newspapers.
