Panel to discuss the future of Washington regional reporting on Aug. 1

In conjunction with its 30th anniversary, the Regional Reporters Association will team up with the National Press Club Journalism Institute to look at the future of Washington regional reporting, the journalists who cover the nation's capital from a local perspective for readers far outside the Beltway.

The program will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 1, in the First Amendment Lounge. Doors will open at 5:45 p.m. The cost is $5 for Club members and $10 for nonmembers. Registration is required.

The challenges are many:: Shrinking newsroom budgets have closed or decimated many D.C. bureaus, leaving those reporters who remain under major pressure to fill the gaps. The nation’s federal offices are more opaque than ever, making it difficult for journalists to hold them accountable on behalf of the public. And the public itself has become increasingly skeptical of, and sometimes hostile toward, the news media.

Discussing those challenges will be Buffalo News Washington Bureau Chief Jerry Zremski, a former Club president; Michael Barthel of the Pew Research Center; and former Reps. Ryan Costello, R-Pa., and Jim Moran, D-Va., who dealt with a vibrant corps of regional reporters when they served in Congress.

For more information, contact Andie Coller, program director of the Journalism Institute, at [email protected]