End of the line?

The Massachusetts Statehouse Press Gallery used to be a rowdy and raucous place, where reporters for two wire services and outlets from around the state worked side-by-side, in fierce competition, to document the daily workings of Massachusetts government.

Today, you can hear a pin drop — and the echoes just got a bit louder with word the Associated Press no longer has someone stationed in Room 456.

The image I chose for this Substack is of what’s known as the “Loser’s Wall,” bumper stickers of candidates and ballot questions that failed to get traction with voters. Except for that logo in the middle — UPI — the wire service for which I churned out copy for six years.

I didn’t paste it up, but I obviously take no offense. How could I? After two Chapter 11 bankruptcies that have left it a shell of its former self, United Press International is owned by News World Communications — aka the Unification Church or The Moonies — with operations in Boca Raton, Florida (say what?) and Washington, also home to the Washington Times.

If UPI holds any significance in today’s world of journalism it would be as the first major news organization to hit the financial skids.

But boy, was it ever fun while it lasted. Not only did I get a chance to regularly report on the stories that often led the front pages of The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald — and beyond — but I had a front row seat on major national stories, like the 1988 presidential campaign of Governor Mike Dukakis.

I still joke I covered The Duke when he was a political nobody, a somebody and a nobody again. I don’t do that much these days because the students I teach as part of the Boston University Statehouse Program were all born at least a decade after he ran and lost to George H.W. Bush in 1988.

Our new semester kicks off Monday with 13 students, making it the single largest Statehouse “newsroom.” The State House News Service now provides Massachusetts print, digital, audio and video outlets with the bulk of what they need to know.

The outlets students will write locally focused stories for only mildly resemble the lists of newspapers that called the room and the one next door home.

It’s all part of the depressing trend in journalism — and not just the loss of outlets and jobs. It’s the loss of holding political feet to the fire.

Do you think it is mere coincidence that Massachusetts has one of the least transparent state governments around, with the governor’s office, Legislature and courts all shielded in large part from the public records law?

Or that a majority of Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly backed a constitutionally-flawed ballot question sponsored by the state auditor to bring sunlight into the legislative chambers?

Student journalists now comprise the majority of reporters covering state governments, according to a report by the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont:

“Despite increasing need, the number of full-time statehouse reporters has declined by 34% since 2014 according to Pew Research Center. In that time, university-led reporting has stepped in to fill the gap. Today, some of the most rigorous reporting on urgent issues is being done by student reporters in states across the country (PDF).

During 2022, about 250 student statehouse reporters in university-led programs produced more than 1,000 stories that were made available to more than 1,200 media outlets in the 17 states. In total, the 20 leaders managing these university-led programs have 440 years of experience at more than 75 media outlets from local papers, to regional and national outlets like the New York Times, Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.”

Some of them even go on to cover legislative branches at the state and federal level. Recent BU Statehouse Program graduates now work for The Boston Globe, GBH News, the Statehouse News Service, the aforementioned AP in Utah (last I looked at least!), the VTDigger and Politico.

Perhaps that’s part of the reason why Governor Maura Healey is talking about taking another look at exemptions to the public records law and House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka are talking about some rules changes?

It’s a start. Today, many government and political reporters, especially at the national level, prefer to focus on politics rather than policy — the day-to-day nuts and bolts of government involving taxes, education, housing, transportation and immigration to name but a few.

It’s a flaw that allows Donald Trump and others to flood the zone with s—t like the Gulf of America while silencing federal agencies from sharing important information about public health and safety

I consider myself a recovering political reporter. We need a lot more of them today — while still working a beat. Losing even one good reporter is a loss for American democracy.