Think Tank discusses traditional media cutting back on newsroom staffing

Traditional media (newspapers, broadcast TV stations) are cutting back on newsroom staffing.  Investigative reporting, in general, is getting shortchanged, since it is labor-intensive.

Where can news consumers go for insights into political shenanigans, especially of local politics?

A number of nontraditional media have been created in Arizona and elsewhere to fill this gap.  Generally they use the web as the communication vehicle for reporting.

This week, the Think Tank is joined by the principals of three such ventures:

• Rachel Leingang is a former Arizona Republic reporter and is a principal in the Arizona Agenda (arizonaagenda.com)
• Brandon Questar is a principal with the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting (azcir.org)
• Camaron Stevenson is Managing editor of the Copper Courier (couriernewsroom.com)

We discuss their business models (donors, subscriptions), their history and progress, respective niches, some of the pieces of which they are the most proud, and several hot political topics in current Arizona.

The Think Tank airs on KTAR 92.3 FM on Saturday 6-7 p.m. and Sunday 9-10 p.m.

Podcasts are available after broadcast. Older shows are archived at www.mikeoneil.org.