The Times attacks the Tribune

In my prior post I talk about the tbt* going daily.

These are not the only changes made by the Times. Today they
launched tampabay.com "Welcome to the new St. Petersburg Timesand tbt*/Tampa Bay Times homepage You've landed on tampabay.com, the new home page for the St. Petersburg Times and tbt*/Tampa Bay Times. We've combined our sites into this central starting point to create the most comprehensive news and information portal for the Tampa Bay region. Read full story"

To me these are the first salvos in a newspaper war. The Times is going to try to make some serious in-roads in the Tampa newspaper market. This may be a great opportunity for us Central Tampa residents. If this area is a true 2 paper market then perhaps maybe we as subscriber and advertisers might get more coverage and respect by both papers.

As a rule, I believe the Tribune provided more coverage of the Seminole Heights area. I see the Tribune's Kathy Steele all over the place. I don't see The Times Sherry Day that much. Maybe it is because Kathy lives here and I suspect Sherry might not. This is disappointing, especially since there are several good Times writers in Seminole Heights.

A concrete example of lack of Times coverage is Monday arts town hall meeting at Covivant. Kathy Steele was sitting next to Susan, busy writing away and interviewing people.

Here is an idea. The Times could hire Kathy Steele. (*Note to St. Pete Times. If you hire her, give her a raise. She's worth it.) (*Note to the Tribune. Give her a raise anyway because she is worth it.) (*Note to everyone. I only know Kathy though her reporting and so have no personal interest. But I appreciate good work and the good press relationships she has made in the neighborhood. Just like Sean Lengell and Sherri Ackerman had when they covered issues in Central Tampa)

Maybe this war will get us more coverage by the Times.