Collusion Between NYT And WaPo

The NYTimes and WashPost play doctor with their front pages every night, in a game of journalistic "I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours" that shakes what's left of their pillars of objectivity.

Joe Strupp reports in Editor and Publisher:

When The New York Times on July 16 broke the story of a 2003 State Department memo that had become a key element in the Valerie Plame leak investigation, the paper scored a major exclusive. But when The Washington Post hit newsstands that very same Saturday, it had its own version of the same story. It even credited the Times for the same-day scoop.

Welcome to life under the Washington Post-New York Times swap. As part of a secret arrangement formed more than 10 years ago, the Post and Times send each other copies of their next day's front pages every night. The formal sharing began as a courtesy between Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. and former Times Executive Editor Joseph Lelyveld in the early 1990s and has continued ever since.

What they have created through this arrangement is in effect an Axis Power of mainstream, liberal journalism. The two collosi of the East Coast's power centers can collude -- to play up a story that hurts a disfavored administration, as was the case with Plame, and just as likely, to play down a story embarassing to a favored administration.

The latter is more troubling. Imagine WaPo's editorial staff a few years back, looking at a story critical of the Clinton Administration. It's a good, strong story that could harm the reputation and effectiveness of a guy who's policies they like. If they know the NYT has it too, but they don't know where it's a front-pager there, they are likely to front-page it, just to play it safe.

But if one paper signals that they're burying the article, the other can follow suit, and voila, page 22 in both cities.

Time for a little trust-busting?

h/t media bistro