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  2. August 2010

August 2010

Media Coverage of City Governments

As the media landscape shifts, so too have newsroom resources. One looming question is where people can find coverage of local news subjects, particularly government and public affairs.

A new comprehensive and highly anticipated university study of local news from communities across the country offers a piece of the answer. The study of 98 major metropolitan cities and 77 suburban communities found that the medium significantly affects how and what local news gets covered--particularly about government. The study funded by the National Science Foundation is one of the broadest based we have seen tackling the question of where government coverage comes from. Consumers have a wide, growing variety of choices of media today. But the majority of news about local government still comes from newspapers, according to the study by Thomas Baldwin, Daniel Bergan, Frederick G. Fico, Stephen Lacy, and Steven S. Wildman, a team of Michigan State University researchers associated with The Quello Center for Telecommunication Management and Law. And that is even truer in suburban cities than in larger central metro cities. In suburbs, moreover, most of the news people get about local government comes from weekly papers, not dailies. The medium also made a difference in the level of sourcing and in the diversity of sources offered in news stories. Citizen news sites, while so limited in number that the sample is quite small, had the richest level of sourcing studied and the widest range of types of sources. Daily newspapers came next followed by weekly papers. Citizen blogs had the lowest level of sourcing of any media studied.

Online-Only Western Governors University Could be New Model for Education

The need for affordable and flexible education rings truer today than ever before. According to the College Board's 2009 Trends in College Pricing report, the cost of higher education is rising: Tuition for in-state residents at public four-year institutions was about $7,020 for the 2009-2010 academic year, bringing the total cost for one academic year to more than $19,000 when books and living expenses are included. This means a four-year degree at a public university costs nearly $80,000, and according to the same report, a private four-year degree costs twice that -- $160,000. And governors will continue cutting higher education budgets, which will drive further increases in tuition costs, said John Thomasian, director of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. The lack of affordability combined with the complexity of student financial aid threatens higher education's accessibility, said David Breneman, the Newton and Rita Meyers professor in economics of education at the University of Virginia. "To find out what the actual price of college is going to be is not trivial in this country," he said. "The kids who are coached know how to run the financial aid system if they are eligible, while the kids from less sophisticated families -- I think a number of us worry that they sort of get lost at the starting gate." As university budgets shrink, governors are searching for ways to make the remaining education money more effective, Thomasian said. "One of those ways to make it effective is for higher education to start using a lot more online learning."

$114 billion still available for federal contractors before Sept. 30

The federal government still has $114 billion in play for contract spending before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, an industry analyst has concluded. FedSources predicts fourth quarter contracting activity will pick up significantly compared to the previous three quarters of fiscal 2010, particularly for smaller purchases.

The government's fiscal 2010 budget included $756 billion for contracts. Ray Bjorklund, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer at FedSources and the report's author, said fourth quarter spending is very important for the information technology community, especially for resellers whose sales are commodity-based. The jump in spending represents demand for lower-cost purchases for which agencies might not have expected to have sufficient funds, he added.

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