Local Papers Mull Their Global Role

LOCAL PAPERS MULL THEIR GLOBAL ROLE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah Ellison sarah.ellison@wsj.com]
The Boston Globe said it would close all three of its remaining overseas bureaus, reflecting a painful issue for larger metropolitan papers: In the presence of steep budget cuts, do they get out of international and national coverage and focus relentlessly on their local markets? Advertisers think they should, and so do some of the people interested in buying those papers. They see a world with wire services like the Associated Press and a tier of national papers like The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Washington Post providing national and foreign news. "I'm not sure local papers need to cover Iraq, need to cover global events," Jack Welch, the former General Electric Co. chairman who wants to buy the Globe from New York Times Co., told CNBC last week. "They can be real local papers ... and purchase from people very willing to sell to you their wire services that will give you the coverage." Reducing international staff at big metropolitan papers has become a contentious debate at many newspapers as publishers struggle to redefine themselves. Overseas coverage can confer prestige and prizes, and attract talented reporters and editors, but now foreign bureaus are increasingly being considered a luxury. "Many other regional newspapers, some larger than ours, have taken similar steps in recent years," Globe Editor Martin Baron said in a memo to his staff. "All along, a guiding principle was to secure the resources required for local coverage and for journalism that has the most direct impact on our readers." The number of foreign correspondents at U.S. newspapers had dropped to 249 in 2006, down nearly 12% from 282 in 2000. The number of overseas reporters from all but the five largest papers fell to 52 in 2006 from 80 in 2000.
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