Budget cuts at McClatchy Newspapers mean the Washington D.C. bureau will drop its contract with Ipsos, which has conducted polls for the news outlet for years, Media Matters for America reported today.
Ipsos had conducted about one poll a month for McClatchy, usually about politics, Robert Rankin, McClatchy’s government and politics editor, told MMA’s Joe Strupp.
“The budget requires that that relationship comes to an end,” Rankin said. “… This hurts. We are staffing (political coverage) at about the same level. But we can’t cover the absence of polls. There is no way to replace them.”
“McClatchy’s move is not unique,” Strupp writes. “Numerous news outlets in print and on air have been cutting back on the use of polls, most citing budgetary needs.”
Tags: Ipsos, McClatchy D.C. Bureau, Media Matters for America