After recall, public's attention to civics is likely to dissipate.

As the fifth biggest city in the state, Long Beach has no shortage of news sources. That includes at least eight local television channels (English and Spanish), two daily papers, a regional daily and a handful of weeklies and Internet sites devoted to city affairs.

But don't expect too much attention paid to the comings and goings of the area's state-house representatives.

A search of the Los Angeles Times archives, for example, turned up just 36 mentions of state Sen. Betty Karnette, D-Long Beach, who was first elected almost 10 years ago, and 35 mentioning Assemblyman Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, elected in 1998. And several of those citations were merely election roundups.

It's not that there aren't important stories to be told.

Both Karnette and Lowenthal are termed out of their respective offices next year, and each plans to run for the other's seat. Such district swapping is cited as an example of a broken political system dominated by insiders and special interests.

"It's difficult to get people to understand what's going on in Sacramento and how it impacts their lives," said Harry Saltzgaver, associate publisher and executive editor of Gazette Newspapers Inc., which puts out two free weeklies in Long Beach with a combined circulation of 66,000. "My take is that we could do a better job of covering state politics and there could be more information. But the problem is nobody is paying attention."

Long Beach is hardly the only example of the media's minimal coverage of Sacramento affairs. With the notable exception of the current recall campaign, coverage of California government and politics is routinely marginalized--especially as it relates to particular districts or elected officials. This vacuum has taken place even as term limits and redistricting have drastically changed the dynamics of the state Capitol and, some say, played an important role in the current dysfunctional system.

"State government operates in a media vacuum in print and on TV and radio," said Cal State Long Beach Political Science Professor Paul Schmidt. "That leaves the Internet and there are not too many people that are likely to be proactive in that regard."

One Internet site drawing attention is LongBeachReport.com, which offers fresh coverage of local issues and events, links to a variety of state, national and international news sites, and a healthy dose of criticism tinged with an antigovernment slant. Another source is the more left-leaning alternative newspaper Random Lengths, which is based in San Pedro but also covers Long Beach and the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

Bill Rosendahl, who for more than 15 years has been hosting public affairs programming on local cable television, believes more Californians would pay attention to state issues if the news media abandoned what he called "sound-bite journalism."

"The best part of the recall is that the light is on state politics and it is shining brightly. People are learning about the political process," he said. "I hope that intensity and awareness will translate into the media taking a more responsible commitment to public service and let their good reporters do their jobs."

Robert Hertzberg, the former state Assembly Speaker and now an attorney with Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw LLP in Los Angeles, contended that the sheer distance between Southern California and Sacramento exacerbates the sense of powerlessness.

Still, he said, the media is not doing its part.

"The consequences (of ignoring state politics) are extraordinary," he said. "If the media paid attention, the outcome to some of these issues might be different."

But as Schmidt points out, most people get their news from television, and television has a problem with politics: It's not visual.

"That's why we have districts that are custom-cooked for the participants," Schmidt said. "It's an insiders game and they play it to their benefit and the not the public's benefit."

Even Hertzberg, who said the news media has done a decent and at times commendable job covering local and national news, didn't mince words about its performance on the state level. "They get a big fat F," Hertzberg said. "There is no TV news in Sacramento. Print is a little better, but few newspapers have bureaus in Sacramento and most papers are getting their stories off the wire."