The National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) and the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) are keenly aware that newsrooms in the United States have experienced dramatic cutbacks during the past decade, with many news organizations reducing the size, frequency and breadth of their coverage. These cutbacks have eroded the quality of information available to American citizens, while contributing to an overall distrust of the news media.

Candidates in the 2012 election campaign cycle reportedly raised and spent an unprecedented $6 billion. The campaigns expended a large portion of this sum to advertise on television and radio as well as in newspapers and news magazines. The Washington Post reports that the presidential campaigns, alone, spent more than $1 billion – half or more of their total campaign dollars – on such advertising.

In order to accommodate this huge influx of advertising, many media outlets actually reduced their available news bloc to make room for more political advertising.

Based upon these facts and observations the NPPA & ASMP urge corporate news media organizations to re-invest a substantial portion of their profits into the communities they serve by improving and expanding local news coverage so as to achieve the highest standards in journalism and bolster public trust and respect.