Wire services account for a majority of the U.S. government news coverage in local newspapers Among newspapers that have/ don't have a D.C. correspondent, %of stories that are produced by...
Wire services like the Associated Press account for the major share of federal government coverage in local newspapers. Regardless of whether a local newspaper has its own D.C. correspondent, wire service coverage carries much of the weight when it comes to informing readers about the federal government. Among the four papers with a D.C. correspondent, fully 52% of stories about the federal government came from wire services, compared with 8% that came from the D.C. correspondents. Among four papers studied without their own D.C. correspondent, reliance on wire coverage was even more pronounced – accounting for fully 62% of all federal government news.
Wire services account for a majority of the U.S.  | government news coverage in local newspapers  | Among newspapers that have/ don't have a D.C. correspondent, %of stories  | that are produced by...  | Other  | Non-  | D.C.  | Wire  | national  | D.C.  | based total  | staff STORIES  | services  | media  | staff  | Newspapers  | with a D.C.  | 52%  | 1,304  | 22  | 18  | 8  | correspondent  | Newspa pers  | without a D.C  | 20  | 1,490  | 62%  | 19  | NA  | correspondent  | FebruaryMay.2015 Source: Contentana lysis conducted on the 78 days thatCongress was in session during  | FebruaryMay.2015 Contentana lysis News conducted coverage on ofthe the federa days govemment.was thatCongress was D.C studied session in eight thatdid during  | newspapers: four thathad correspondent based in Washington D.C and four eight thatdid not  | Papers were se lectedto reflecta 100 mix ofcirculation size geographic loca tion and ownership  | Papers Numbers were may se not lectedto equal reflecta 100 due mix to rounding ofcirculation  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 