Jan Lauren Boyles

Within America’s 50 state capitol buildings, 1,592 journalists inform the public about the actions and issues of state government. Of those statehouse reporters, nearly half (741) are assigned there full time.

While that averages out to 15 full-time reporters per state, the actual number varies widely -- from a high of 53 in Texas to just two in South Dakota. The remaining 851 statehouse reporters cover the beat less than full time. Newspaper reporters constitute the largest segment of both the total statehouse news corps (38%) and the full-time group (43%).

But the data indicate that their full-time numbers have fallen considerably in recent years, raising concerns about the depth and quality of news coverage about state government. As newspapers have withdrawn reporters from statehouses, others have attempted to fill the gap. For-profit and nonprofit digital news organizations, ideological outlets and high-priced publications aimed at insiders have popped up all over the country, often staffed by veteran reporters with experience covering state government. These nontraditional outlets employ 126 full-time statehouse reporters (17% of all full-time reporters). But that does not make up for the 164 newspaper statehouse jobs lost since 2003.