Commentary: Sharing today's troubled times

By Harry Liggett
Scoop was a really dumb word, I always thought, but some of us are old enough to remember the competitive spirit of the newspaper game which made reporters and editors hustle. You grabbed the first copy of the competition’s edition, glanced over the headlines on page 1 and breathed a sigh of relief when you were not beat on some story. You started paging through to see what else you might have missed.

I remember the agony, too, and the bitching from reporters you grabbed early in the morning, handing them a clip from the opposition and pleading with them to try to find a new angle. You knew–and they knew–you were just trying to recover from missing a story. I remember a few people at the Beacon Journal like Charlie Buffum, Don Bandy and the late Bruce Larrick,who could always make that happen–but OH, not without bitching.

I remember, too, my early days on the smallest and worst of three small dailies in Tuscarawas County when we worried about being scooped even on a PTA notice. When the BJ, PD and other newspapers in Ohio agreed to a deal to share news, some old timers could not believe it.. Share news?

It is not a new idea, however. In that crowded newspaper county I just mentioned there was a similar deal which the publishers said then was because of the manpower shortage during World War II. It was supposedly only to share routine news. If a fatal auto crash or routine accident happened in your third of the county, you covered the story and shared it with the others.

In those old days there was a phone conference call with each reporter reading stories he had while the others typed away. Each of the three reporters took a turn reading to the others until all the copy was shared. It was a great day when a teletype connection was established to relieve the burden of reading a story over the phone. There is only one newspaper in that county now.

When sharing of stories was introduced by the Ohio newspapers we reported it on this blog with a bit of a sneer. A young viewer asked what was wrong with the idea. There was no answer because it’s difficult to explain. It was like asking Why do you like sports?

It’s the thrill, the pride or something.

And all this long treatise is just to bring you the latest news:.

It’s a memo sent to Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) members by the sports editor of the Plain Dealer. Here’s the lead:

Sent: 3/6/2009 4:38 PM
To: [Multiple recipients]
Subject: Content Sharing -- A message

Fellow members of APSE,

I am trying to measure interest in sharing sports content nationwide. Many of you are already sharing it in your region and with former rivals. Nationwide sharing is one way we as members of APSE might be able to help each other in these troubled economic times.

Our final observation: Will today’s troubled times be tomorrow’s good old days?