Thursday, March 28, 2024
 
Washington Post and NY Times, Fast Becoming Twins, Look Like Merger Partners

WASHINGTON, D.C. June 1 (DPI) – American journalism, beaten down in the digital age, still has its standard bearers, principally the newspaper reporters at The New York Times, The Washington Post and a handful of other outfits.

The trusted work of these people continues to serve as a primary source – even inspiration – for much of the internet content, content that real journalism has to compete against. The shrinking world of everyday journalism is more in alliance than ever before.

It’s a shared mission now, of national and global coverage, and it is making The NYT and The WaPo more alike.  Local coverage appears to get less and less space, while national political coverage is taking more and more. Whereas 30 years ago the two newspapers overlapped half the time on their content, today they are – at least terms of subject matter – overlapping 85 percent of the time.

The New York Times this week announced yet another round of layoffs among its editorial staff – mostly among its big-picture backfield editors who produced perhaps fewer words. The editorial staff headcount remains at record highs, though, near 1300, as it hires more technology-savvy reporters who curate content that originates far and wide, including comment boards.  It’s a strategic shift to digital long in the making, and driven largely by younger employees, including the son of the publisher.

With the two papers look more and more alike, there’s a good chance that the two will begin sharing journalism resources, and perhaps merge outright.

 

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