While newspapers are employing fewer full-time reporters to cover the nation’s statehouses, nonprofit newsrooms are stepping up to fill the gap, a study conducted by Pew Research Center finds.

The report, Total Number of U.S. Statehouse Reporters Rises, but Fewer Are on the Beat Full Time (10 pages, PDF), found that nonprofit journalists make up 20 percent of the statehouse reporting corps, up from 6 percent in 2014, the last time the study was conducted. In raw numbers, there are 353 nonprofit reporters in 2022, compared with 92 in 2014, and they now make up the largest portion of the statehouse corps in 10 states, and the second largest in 17 states. Moreover, nonprofits are the second largest employer of statehouse reporters, behind newspapers, and the total number of statehouse reporters has increased by 11 percent since 2014 due to the rise in nonprofit newsrooms dedicated to state policy and an increase in part-time statehouse reporters at newspapers.

“This whole project is based on our belief that when you consider the impact that state government has on people’s lives these days and the small amount of coverage in most places, it just felt like that was the place where we could have the most impact,” said Chris Fitzsimon, founder and publisher at the nonprofit States Newsroom. “There are tons of small papers, medium-size towns, or even smaller towns who can’t afford an AP subscription anymore and they don’t have a capitol reporter. We make all of our content available for free. A lot of people carry our coverage.” 

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