Here is data that was first posted on the Local NPR website. It comes from a 2010 system wide survey I did as a supplement to the CPB/PRNDI Census of Journalists*.
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- Source: PRNDI/MVM Consulting, August 2010
The chart shows that despite the weak economy 58% of stations maintained their news staffing levels during FY 2010 while 27% of stations actually grew their news staffs during that time.
The following chart reports the results of a second survey question, looking ahead to FY 2011. It shows 61% of stations planning to maintain its current newsroom size, while a healthy 26% of stations plan to increase their news and public affairs staffing.
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- Source: PRNDI/MVM Consulting, 2010
We did not ask why these trends are occurring, however we do know that there has been tremendous emphasis lately on growing local station services as a response to changing patterns of public media consumption.
For more theory and recommendations on this, see Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive by Barbara Cochran for the Knight Commission and Aspen Institute.
Helping on my research team was Steve Martin and Ken Mills.
*The CPB/PRNDI Census of Journalists in local newsrooms was conducted in July-August 2010 and filed as a complete report in September 2010. CPB has yet to release the results because it wants to add to the headcount the number of national/network journalists. The data presented here are not part of the census report.