It’s no secret that Americans are becoming less and less knowledgeable about agriculture.
While there is no one specific reason this is the case, Joe Proudman, the associate director for communications at the University of California-Davis CLEAR Center, shed some light on one of the reasons. It was something I already knew, but during his presentation at the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit on May 4, Proudman pointed out just how severely the number of agricultural journalists at major newspapers has dwindled.
The era of the shrinking newsroom
I think we all know that in general, the newspaper industry is in a decline and has been for quite some time. I walked away from the newspaper business on my own terms in 2012, but other friends and former co-workers weren’t so lucky, as shortly after that, staff sizes and circulation frequencies declined and they found themselves looking for work. The daily paper where I spent the bulk of my career has since consolidated with another daily paper in the county, and later scaled back to three print editions a week. Based on what I’ve heard, fewer people work at the consolidated paper than worked at either of the two papers individually.
I even wrote about the topic of reduced newspaper staffs in a blog post several years ago, when the building that once was the office for the Wichita Eagle, the largest daily newspaper in Kansas, was being razed so the site could be the new home for Cargill’s North American Protein headquarters. The Eagle simply did not need that much building space anymore, so it found a smaller building.
So with smaller newspaper staffs, it is understandable that agriculture reporters would also be harder to come by. Perhaps even disproportionately when compared to other specialized reporters. Now, agriculture is covered by reporters who aren’t as familiar with the industry – if agriculture is even covered at all.
Source: wattagnet.com
Photo Credit: gettyimages-shotbydave
Categories: New York, General