Speaking of state capitol reporting...

This week we're going to be discussing the changes in state capitol reporting among news agencies. Like many other quote "superfluous" bureaus, news outlets are cutting back on the number reporters stationed at locations like Washington or their respective state capitols.

In California, it's no different and I seemed to witness this firsthand this past weekend while dealing with state budget stories for the newspaper group I work for.

As the weekend editor, I often pull stories from the Associated Press to run in our papers, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Pasadena Star-News and the Whittier Daily News. Over the weekend, we had budgeted to pull an AP story on the state budget, and just add quotes from our area politicians to localize the story. 

It was Saturday night, about one hour before our first deadline and the AP still hadn't moved a new story. Their latest version was from about four hours before, and didn't reflect the most up-to-date news. So getting a little antsy, I decided to call the local Los Angeles AP desk and ask them what was up with the story.

When the AP editor picked up, she gave a bit of insight that nearly threw me off my chair: "We've only got one reporter in Sacramento, so we're waiting....." One reporter? Really, ONE REPORTER??? One reporter covering the largest state deficit in California's history? One reporter covering the fate of a budget packet that could potentially raise taxes on gas and sales tax in the state? One reporter covering a record 30-hour legislative session that had lawmaker falling asleep in their chairs?

I mean, we're talking about the AP here, which has reporters stationed all around the world and provides content to hundreds and hundreds of news agencies. And yet, they could only spare one reporter to cover a possible resolution to California's $42 billion budget deficit.

Talk about a loss in state capitol reporting.... At least I got a story by my deadline.