South Florida papers to share content

[SF_Express]

Pretty amazing if true, and he's pretty reliable.

Adds to efficiency, makes some sense. Kind of sad from the standpoint of the old days of no-holds-barred competition.

http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2008/08/south_florida_daily_newspapers.php

 

[lantaur]

Aren't the Ohio papers doing something similar (in an effort to minimize AP)?

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Aren't the Ohio papers doing something similar (in an effort to minimize AP)?

Not really. This is apparently just prep scores, entertainment listings and the like.

 

[HoopsMcCann]

yes, lantaur, they are -- dayton, columbus, cincinnati and others..

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Whatever happened to the old practice of having the prep agate guy call the competing paper for scores?

 

[Ohiowriter]

There are some restrictions when it comes to sports content (for now), but you can now routinely see Plain Dealer bylines in Akron, Columbus in Cleveland and vice versa. It started in the spring with the state's largest papers (Cleve, Cincy, Akron, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, Canton). Currently it seems there is mostly sharing of politics and statehouse coverage. Again, for now. But at some point you expect the bean counters will wonder why six papers should send writers/columnists/photogs to Los Angeles for Ohio State-USC when the Dispatch could provide all the content they think they need. Then they'll wonder why they all need Ohio State beat writers. Especially now that the editors/execs at all these papers are committed to regular meetings to talk about this wonderful new partnership.

 

[SF_Express]

Whatever happened to the old practice of having the prep agate guy call the competing paper for scores?

Oh, that's always been done and will be done across this great land of ours tonight.

This is more of a formal agreement, which is what makes it more unusual.

 

[txsportsscribe]

Whatever happened to the old practice of having the prep agate guy call the competing paper for scores?

they do it online now.

 

[SF_Express]

Well, that's assuming that they put them on the web in a timely manner, enough so that they help the competing papers out on deadline.

I highly doubt that has been the case with my local paper in the past, but might be wrong.

 

[The Wolf]

Folks:

Next month, we will expand our story-sharing arrangements with other Florida papers to include the Sun Sentinel.

Starting Monday, Sept. 2, the three South Florida papers will begin a three-month trial of sharing breaking news copy as well as sports and cultural copy, including reviews. The Miami Herald and the Sun Sentinel also will share with each other. In addition, all three papers will step up pooling arrangements on some stories.

In the face of tightened budgets and reduced staff at all the papers, I’ve discussed with the other two editors how we can improve our coverage while continuing to compete.

The trial period will begin with basic breaking news (happened in the past 24 hours) on each other’s web sites. We may pull and run in print any breaking news stories, as can they from our web site. Enterprise, features, columns and investigative stories will not be picked up. (We’ll probably argue from time to time about what’s breaking news and what’s features/enterprise, until we all get used to it.) We may also pick up excerpts of stories; examples might be regional weather stories, political candidates on the trail in all three counties, and crime stories that cross county lines. Any stories will include attribution to the paper.

Early next month, we’ll discuss with our sports editors and arts editors how we can best share game and cultural news and reviews.

For more than a decade, we have shared copy with the Miami Herald. For four years, we’ve shared copy with some Gannett papers. The Post this year also began sharing our copy statewide through AP Exchange, the AP’s web-based delivery system. This weekend alone, we ran stories from the St. Pete Times, Miami Herald, St. Augustine Record and Port Charlotte Sun Newspapers.

Though I know it’s jarring to share with a competitor, this plan can help us get news of interest to our readers and give us a little more time to focus on the enterprise we want to do.

 

[MMatt60]

Pretty depressing in that this was one of the last, great truly competitive sports-journalism markets.

 

[budcrew08]

Will there be attribution?

Like: The byline saying in Miami

By JOE REPORTER
SunSentinel Staff

For example?

 

[whatwoulddamondo?]

wouldn't a joa, eliminating a lot of back-office jobs -- look, i don't wanna see any jobs eliminated, but i'll take some that don't impact the direct creation of the product -- serve everyone a helluva lot better than this?

 

[MileHigh]

As someone who used to work in the SoFla market, I never thought I'd see it. Sad in many ways.

 

[MMatt60]

Also ironic: On many days, the smallest paper (the Palm Beach Post) out-fought the competition. Now it will have to take whatever the other papers deign to give them.

The top sports editors ---- Burke and Moschella --- have probably double the experience and savvy of their Sun-Sentinel counterparts, and maybe even those at the Herald.

 

[Lollygaggers]

It's hard to see with this first step there not coming a time when the publishers of each paper sit back and say,"Gee, why should I have two writers covering the Dolphins when we're also getting stories from two other papers on the same team. Couldn't I get by with one? And why should we have a Florida State or Florida or Miami beat writer when the three of us can use the copy from one person?"

I'm sure the editors would fight that to death, but we've all seen too well who wins out in the end with these things. It makes sense on the bottom line once you've gotten past the "we're your competitor and will never share" stage.

 

[MMatt60]

Lollygagger: Your prediction probably will come true before the Dolphins win three games.

 

[bob]

It's hard to see with this first step there not coming a time when the publishers of each paper sit back and say,"Gee, why should I have two writers covering the Dolphins when we're also getting stories from two other papers on the same team. Couldn't I get by with one? And why should we have a Florida State or Florida or Miami beat writer when the three of us can use the copy from one person?"

I'm sure the editors would fight that to death, but we've all seen too well who wins out in the end with these things. It makes sense on the bottom line once you've gotten past the "we're your competitor and will never share" stage.

On a smaller scale, this is now happening in Quincy (Patriot Ledger), Brockton (Enterprise) and Framingham (Metrowest News) near Boston. That's about 130,000 total circulation. Since Gatehouse took over these papers, sharing has become a commonplace occurrence between suburban concerns that were once fierce competitors. In the case of Quincy and Brockton, Brockton copy is regularly used at the Patriot Ledger, and featured prominently on its Web site. This includes everything from pros to high schools to mundane features.
Most ominous sign of all: The Quincy SE was named SE for Brockton, as well, and since Gatehouse sold Brockton's headquarters, the Brockton sports staff and copy desk is moving into the Quincy headquarters, working alongside Patriot Ledger personnel and certainly signalling an impending merger.

 

[Mediator]

Anyone who starts a corporate missive with "Folks" is a fraud.

It's the corporatization of the newspaper business. Take away the competitive motivation, neuter us all, share content. It's a great day for the corrupt in South Florida.

 

[accguy]

To me, this is much different than the Ohio arrangement because of the proximity of the three papers. In many spots in SoFla, you can go into the 7-Eleven and buy at least two of the three or all three papers.

The Ohio arrangement covers a much greater geographic area. You can say Cleveland and Akron are competitors and Dayton and Cincinnati compete in only a very small area. But most potential subscribers can't get more than one of these papers delivered to their house.

The Ohio deal actually makes some sense. The Florida thing, however, is kind of sad.