Watchdogs don't come cheap.

The article tackles the impact of the economic downturn on the journalism industry in the U.S. According to the blog Paper Cuts, there have been cutbacks, layoffs, furloughs, more than 15,500 American news industry job losses in 2008, and another 2,300 in the first weeks of 2009. With this, there are local papers in Washington and Minnesota that avoid government access stories especially if the stories would lead them to the court and news executives are dismissing expensive experienced reporters who know open-government laws.