News-Record.com

The National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University released a study this week that says that while arts programs are blossoming, arts coverage isn't. "Overall, there are fewer arts-related articles; newsrooms are devoting more of their arts space to listings; and electronic media are supplanting newspapers as a source for arts coverage."

We have a full-time reporter -- Dawn Kane -- covering the arts community. She writes about the Arts with a capital A. That's theater, art and classical music. She doesn't cover movies, TV or rock music. (We use Jeri Rowe, freelancers and wire services for that.)All of it is here.

The results of the survey aren't surprising (and the N&R wasn't surveyed, although Charlotte was.) The area's economic downturn that began in 2000 has meant fewer reporters on the street. We gave some consideration to reducing arts coverage, but we didn't. We know how important the arts are to readers and to the exchange and understanding of ideas.

But the report's conclusions about shorter stories and less space are on target. That's driven less by the arts and more by reader preference and cost control. Readers prefer shorter stories much of the time. And one of the larger costs of a newspaper is newsprint so, as you try to reduce your costs....

In the end, I don't anticipate any reduction in our arts coverage. There are simply too many good productions, shows and concerts being staged.