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.
