South Florida papers to share content

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?

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

The publisher in West Palm Beach used to be the publisher in Dayton, Ohio. Probably no coincidence that the sharing plan developed a few months after his arrival in the Sunshine State.

 

i'd love to know what the ledger's guild, still without a contract, thinks about this. same for the enterprise guild.

at least 400 crown colony won't be the empty cavern it's become in recent years.

 

The sharing arrangement is a little less depressing when it's all one company. Although the LA Daily News plan hasn't exactly improved journalism.