An Australian investigation "analysing a five-day working week in the media, across 10 hard-copy papers... found that nearly 55% of stories analysed were driven by some form of public relations." I'm sure figures for newspapers in this country would be completely different.
They are different ... its closer to 80%. There's a really good study out there from 8 or 9 years ago about agenda setting. But this isn't a new trend; to suggest that American newspapers have this independent, investigative history misguided.
Our local paper consists of about a couple of half-assed "investigative" story each week, supplemented by "quirky" international stories. The rest is blatant advertising for local businesses and the mayor. Most of the juicy in-depth stuff comes from the area blogs.
Yes that does seem way low.