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A method for measuring investigative journalism in local newspapers

Author

Listed:
  • Eray Turkel

    (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305)

  • Anish Saha

    (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305)

  • Rhett Carson Owen

    (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305)

  • Gregory J. Martin

    (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305)

  • Shoshana Vasserman

    (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305)

Abstract

Major changes to the operation of local newsrooms—ownership restructuring, layoffs, and a reorientation away from print advertising—have become commonplace in the last few decades. However, there have been few systematic attempts to characterize the impact of these changes on the types of reporting that local newsrooms produce. In this paper, we propose a method to measure the investigative content of news articles based on article text and influence on subsequent articles. We use our method to examine over-time and cross-sectional patterns in news production by local newspapers in the United States over the past decade. We find surprising stability in the quantity of investigative articles produced over most of the time period examined, but a notable decline in the last 2 y of the decade, corresponding to a recent wave of newsroom layoffs.

Suggested Citation

  • Eray Turkel & Anish Saha & Rhett Carson Owen & Gregory J. Martin & Shoshana Vasserman, 2021. "A method for measuring investigative journalism in local newspapers," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118(30), pages 2105155118-, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:118:y:2021:p:e2105155118
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    Cited by:

    1. Ewens, Michael & Gupta, Arpit & Howell, Sabrina, 2021. "Local Journalism under Private Equity Ownership," SocArXiv 6ynf4, Center for Open Science.

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