Capitol news desert: ~Half the states have nobody in the press corps watching their state delegations and asking tough questions in the hallway. It would take ~$10M/year to hire 50 top reporters, one for each state, plus editors, etc., and restore state coverage.
Congressional journalism in one sense is thriving; high paywall newsletters & alerts; insider scooplets etc are making fortunes. There are more reporters now covering the inside Hill machinations than 20 years ago. But regional coverage has been decimated.
There are flocks around the national newsmakers in Congress, but many senators and House members rarely get asked a question at all. They often don’t have a local reporter who they have to think about and who they know will be reading all of their disclosures, bills, votes.
Many of the biggest congressional scandals of all time — like Duke Cunningham of bribery menu infamy — were discovered by local or regional reporters looking into financial transactions that didn’t add up