LNIC Research Reports // DRAFT

SCOPE IT: 7 Steps Towards Understanding the Journalism Employment Landscape

Dr. Jennifer Henrichsen, Assistant Professor
Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University
August 2026 | Download Report (PDF)

Table of Contents

SCOPE IT: 7 Steps Toward Understanding the Journalism Employment Landscape

Introduction

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

Appendix A: Sample Survey Questions

Appendix B: Table of Strengths/Weaknesses of Various Approaches

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Bibliography

American Press Institute. “Survey History.” Accessed May 4, 2026. https://americanpressinstitute.org/api-media-inclusion-impact-survey/survey-history/

Angelucci, Charles, and Julia Cagé. “Newspapers in Times of Low Advertising Revenues.” American Economic Journal: Microeconomics 11, no. 3 (2019): 319–64.https://doi.org/10.1257/mic.20170306.

Bowyer, Richard. “Where Have All the Stories and Voices Gone in Local Newspapers? The Effect Falling Advertising Revenues and the Rise of the Web Have Had on English Regional Newspapers.” Athens Journal of Mass Media and Communications 7, no. 4 (2021): 221–38.https://doi.org/10.30958/ajmmc.7-4-1.

Cagé, Julia. “Media Competition, Information Provision and Political Participation: Evidence from French Local Newspapers and Elections, 1944–2014.” Journal of Public Economics 185 (2020): 104077.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2019.104077.

Henrichsen, Jennifer R., Pawel Popiel, Elizabeth Chambers, Alexandra Fil, K. Robinson-Tay, Lisa Waananen Jones, J. Lisosky, Ryan J. Thomas, Jody Brannon, and Ben Shors. From News Deserts to Nonprofit Resilience: Assessing the Health of Washington’s Local News Ecosystem. Pullman, WA: Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University, March 2025. https://news-fellowship.murrow.wsu.edu/documents/2025/10/news-ecosystem.pdf/

Institute for Nonprofit News. The 2025 INN Index. Accessed May 4, 2025. https://inn.org/research/inn-index/2025-index/about-the-index/

Johnstone, John W. C., Edward J. Slawski, and William W. Bowman. The News People: A Sociological Portrait of American Journalists and Their Work. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1976.

Khanom, Asma, Damon Kiesow, Matt Zdun, and Chi-Ren Shyu. “The News Crawler: A Big Data Approach to Local Information Ecosystems.” Media and Communication 11, no. 3 (2023): 318–29. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v11i3.6789.

Muck Rack. “Local Journalist Index 2025: Background & Methodology.” Accessed May 4, 2026. https://muckrack.com/research/lji-methodology#methodology.

Papper, Bob, and Keren Henderson. “2022—A Challenging Year in Local TV News.” Electronic News 17, no. 3 (2023): 139–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/19312431231181925.

Peterson, Erik. “Paper Cuts: How Reporting Resources Affect Political News Coverage.” American Journal of Political Science 65, no. 2 (2021): 443–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12560.

 Peterson, Erik, and Johanna Dunaway. “The New News Barons: Investment Ownership Reduces Newspaper Reporting Capacity.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 707 (May 2023): 74–89. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162231211426.

Weaver, David H., Lars Willnat, and G. Cleveland Wilhoit. “The American Journalist in the Digital Age: Another Look at U.S. News People.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 96, no. 1 (2019): 101–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699018778242.

Table of Contents — UPDATE THESE

INTRODUCTION

SCOPE IT: 7 Steps Toward Understanding the Journalism Employment Landscape

CONCLUSION & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

REFERENCES

APPENDIX A: Sample Survey Questions

APPENDIX B: Table of Strengths/Weaknesses of Various Approaches

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