Feb 18, 2009

Huddled mass

Five newspapers in the New Jersey-New York area have agreed to share editorial content. From Editor & Publisher:
“As the Northeast Consortium, our publications will assist each other in gathering news, sports and features materials, giving our readers access to more and expanded content from the top newspapers in each of the respective markets,” Marc Kramer, CEO of the New York Daily News, stated in the release.
I'm sure this is a wise business decision, but it also puts the papers on the slippery slope of consolidation. Doing things together means fewer people doing the work, which usually means layoffs. Less competition means less varied coverage. And, of course, it means more of the same.

1 comment:

Edward Barrera said...

It looks worse than it is. One paper covers NYC, another the capital, another Upstate NY. The two jersey papers focus on their state. (Remember the Star was on the cusp of being closed).
Would like it not to happen, but it makes sense.
It's not like the LANG, where papers stopped covering important real estate because of sharing.