Number of statehouse reporters up since 2014, but fewer are full-time, and more work for non-profits, Pew finds

Change in number of statehouse reporters from 2014 to 2022 (Pew Research Center map; click the image to enlarge it.)

A Pew Research Center study found that the number of statehouse reporters has increased 11 percent since 2014, the last time Pew studied it but fewer of them are working full-time.

Of the 1,761 statehouse reporters the study found, 850, or 48%, are full-time. That matters because "being fully devoted to this coverage often provides the greatest opportunity to engage with the statehouse and produce stories that go beyond the basic contours of daily news," Pew says. "The remaining 911 statehouse reporters either cover the beat part time, are students/interns (whether at a university-run news service or at another news outlet) or are other supporting staff." In contrast, 904 of the 1,592 statehouse reporters found in 2014, or 57%, were full-time.

The gain in raw numbers "comes largely from two main developments: new nonprofit news outlets that are employing statehouse reporters, and a shift to more part-time statehouse reporting," Pew reports. "Nonprofit reporters alone (whether full time or less than full time) now constitute 20% of the statehouse corps, up from 6% in 2014. In total numbers, that translates to 353 statehouse reporters working for nonprofit news organizations in 2022, compared with 92 in 2014. Nonprofit statehouse reporters now make up the largest portion of the statehouse corps in 10 states, and the second largest in 17 states."