The hard economic times in the news media industry have led to changes beyond just trimming of staffs and budgets, according to Denver Journalists speaking at a National Press Club event this past Tuesday.

"In the past, the government knew that the media would take legal action every time information was restricted," said Brian Maass, who leads the investigative team at Denver's CBS 4. But now the government has gotten "pretty canny in knowing" that with financial pressures "there's less fight in the media to battle for information."

In addition to the "battle for information," as we all know, news sources are coming from more and more places. Mark Cardwell, managing editor/digital editor of the Denver Post stated that with budgets being slashed, media are depending on "amateur journalists" who may go to a school board meeting and post something to a Web site that alerts a news organization about controversial issues.