According to the Pew Research Center, nearly two thirds of papers surveyed have cut back on foreign news, over half have trimmed national news, and more than a third have reduced business coverage. With fewer journalists dedicated to business news and features, it is more important than ever for companies to build relationships and trust with those who remain.

This multibillion-dollar industry is currently undergoing profound change. The business sections of newspapers appear to be shrinking or even disappearing altogether. Instead of specialists who report only on business, many thinly staffed news departments now send general-assignment reporters to report on complex business developments. This means that more care should be taken when dealing with them - provide more background and be clear as to key story items.

According to the University of Missouri School of Journalism's Martha Steffens, "Reporters were either sent packing or were moved into the metro section. What we're really seeing now is a shifting of jobs, away from conventional business sections and journals and into more specialized jobs, such as narrowly focused newsletters and business-to-business information sites."

Business media channels have proliferated even as the mainstream media focus on business has devolved. Websites abound with industry-specific news channels and the number of business blogs is well into the thousands. There is more opportunity to develop relationships in these areas than ever before - and some of the coverage developed in an alternative media will make it to the traditional press.

As the Pew Foundation report stated, "More effort keeps shifting toward processing information and away from original reporting." In other words, bloggers and TV reports tend to simply repackage and recycle information that's developed by the remaining conventional newsgathering organizations.