There is an upside to the downturn in newsgathering budgets if you believe some people. Take the US presidential campaign:

What we need less of, as any consumer will tell you if you ask, is slavish coverage of poll numbers and obsession with campaign gaffes and missteps, and that’s what I hope we’ll get less of as news organizations pull back. (Yes, there are political junkies who thrive on this stuff, but there are also more comprehensive sources for it than most local newspapers.)

The truth is you have to hang out with politicians during campaigns to report.

The problem is that 99% of what you get is of zero value to news consumers. You can put it online, but it really doesn’t get a whole lot better.