Post to Share Content with Balto Sun was originally published on City Desk on Dec. 23, 2008, at 12:32 pm
No pre-vacation slowdown at the Washington Post. Yesterday brought news of the resignation of dot-com chief Jim Brady. Today, a content-sharing arrangement with the Baltimore Sun. With both papers buffeted by contemporary media conditions, this move makes a lot of sense. Especially for the Sun: The last time I checked out its Metro section, it was a page-and-a-half long.
Here’s the release on the matter:
WASHINGTON, D.C. / BALTIMORE, MD —December 23, 2008—The Washington Post and The Baltimore Sun today announced that effective January 1, 2009 they will share selected stories, photos and news content with each other in order to better serve readers of both newspapers.
The Post and The Sun have agreed to share the newspapers’ day-to-day coverage of certain Maryland news and sports. In addition, The Post and The Sun may draw on each other’s national, international and feature stories that are distributed by the LAT-WP News Service, to which both contribute. The exchanges will allow each paper to take advantage of the other’s strengths and expertise in specific subjects around the region and the world.
“We have great respect for The Baltimore Sun’s reporting and believe adding their expertise to our regional coverage will be very beneficial to our readers,” said Marcus Brauchli, Executive Editor, The Washington Post.
“The Washington Post is one of America’s most respected news organizations, and adding its award-winning coverage of the federal government and national affairs to The Sun’s pages will help make our paper even more relevant and comprehensive for readers,” said Timothy A. Franklin, the editor of The Baltimore Sun.
J. Montgomery (Monty) Cook, who was named yesterday to take over Franklin’s position as Editor and Senior Vice President of The Baltimore Sun at the beginning of 2009, said, “Having worked in both newsrooms, I can say that this agreement makes readers of The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post the real winners. There’s never been a more important time to provide greater access to quality reporting and writing to our readers and online audience.”
As part of this accord, exclusive stories will not usually be shared, nor will coverage of such competitive subjects as Maryland state government and University of Maryland athletics.
