Bob CollinsMost journalists of a certain age have a story about the hatred between the New York Times and Washington Post. The two newspapers have waged a pitch battle for generations to be the nation’s newspaper of record.
And everyone at one paper kept a good watch on what the other paper was up to. We benefitted from the competition.
In Vietnam, in fact, a New York Times war correspondent, rebuffed by his editor when pitching a story idea, leaked it to the war correspondent from the Washington Post. The story goes that when the Post ran the story, the Times’ news desk contacted its man in Vietnam and demanded that he get on the story.
So it’s going to take a little getting used to the idea of a lovefest between the two institutions, which is what we’ve got now that business reporter James Stewart has authored a tribute to the Post in which he acknowledges that the competitor is shaping the national debate.
Over to you, Twitter.
Our columnist @JamesStewartNYT on becoming a @WashingtonPost subscriber after Monday's Russia scoop https://t.co/0wS9EM9lbi
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 19, 2017
@nytimes @JamesStewartNYT pic.twitter.com/jmp4LjMfZw
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 19, 2017
Suddenly, anything seems possible.
