ATLANTA | The reduction in reporters covering the statehouse may
be impacting more than just the journalists or the politicians
and could play a role in the quality of government.  That’s the
takeaway from a study recently released by the Pew Research
Center Journalism Project. Its census of the 1,592 journalists
in the 50 states provides a snapshot of who is keeping an eye on
things, and when added to regular surveys that had been
conducted by the American Journalism Review, provides insights
on staffing trends.  Before the Internet and the recession,
there began about a 15-year decline by 35 percent in the number
of reporters. Consider that today, less than one-third of
newspapers assign any reporter to the Capitol and more than
eight out of 10 television stations have no presence there
either.  “I do think there’s been a loss in general across the
country, and that’s very concerning to me,” the Pew report
quotes Patrick Marley, who covers the Wisconsin statehouse for
the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We hav