News - How do newspapers pursue access today? - "Sidebar - Shrinking Newsrooms Wage Fewer Battles for Public Access to Courtrooms" - NYTimes.com

News can be very expensive, especially when newspapers choose to fight government and/or private interests to obtain access to information, records and/or people. Being forced, it appears, to spend less on this today goes to the heart of what separates a professional news organization from a blogger in her or his pajamas. How do we resolve this not just for the good of the public but for the sustainability of newspapers as institutions with distinguishing characteristics?