Access Journalism Has a Supply Problem
Trading favorable coverage for proximity worked when proximity was scarce. Officials can now reach an audience without a reporter at all.
The access bargain was always uncomfortable and it was at least a bargain. A reporter offered a degree of restraint and received proximity, and the proximity produced material the public could not otherwise get.
That trade assumed the reporter controlled distribution. An official who wanted to reach an audience needed one, which gave the reporter something to withhold.
The assumption no longer holds. Officials publish directly, at length, to audiences larger than most outlets command, and the coverage they receive in return for access is worth correspondingly less to them.
What this leaves is the version of the bargain with the leverage removed: the restraint remains, the material thins out, and the reporter ends up with a relationship rather than a story. The outlets adjusting fastest are the ones that stopped valuing proximity and started valuing documents.
Iris Nakamura writes for The 13th Bell on media. This piece was edited and fact checked before publication.
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