BOTTOM LINE: It used to be common that major cities had two (or more) newspapers that fought each other viciously for news.  However, the trend now is for formerly bitter rivals to work together on content.  Unfortunately the lack of competition means readers suffer with fewer voices providing news.   01-05-2009
As newspapers trim jobs, formerly fierce rivals forge news-sharing deals 
      Just a dozen years ago, newspapers on either side of Arlington, Texas, fought fiercely for every reader in the fast-growing city, spending millions of dollars to expand their staffs and cover the smallest meetings and sporting events.
    So it came as a surprise that The Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram started sharing photos and concert reviews in November. But these are unprecedented times.
   As readers and advertisers migrate to the Internet and the stumbling economy cuts deeply into revenues, news organizations are redefining what it means to compete. In recent months, papers around the country have tried to mitigate their staff cuts by forging partnerships with former rivals.
    "In the old days, all of us were involved in the same stories," said Tony Pederson, a former Houston Chronicle executive editor and now journalism chairman at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "When there was a big news event in Texas or nationwide, everybody was there. Now, that's not the case."
    The sharing has intensified as newspapers stepped up job reductions and slashed travel budgets, and such arrangements are more palatable than closing news bureaus or dropping some coverage areas altogether.
   All three major daily newspapers in South Florida formed a loose partnership, while five papers in Maine and eight in Ohio are sharing what they gather and produce. Fox and NBC television stations plan to share video, and The Washington Post and The Sun in Baltimore announced a collaboration on Maryland coverage in late December.
   In doing so, readers could lose another voice, and journalists their competitive drive.
   Link to rest of article: http://www.latimes.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-news-competition,0,6603708,print.story