When a container ship slammed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, sending 50,000 tons of concrete and steel tumbling into the water, local reporters leapt into action.
The two largest outlets in town — The Baltimore Sun and The Baltimore Banner — raced to investigate the tragedy. What followed was good journalism.
“When you have a disaster like the bridge collapse, the news instincts that reside in the newsroom thicken in a very impressive way,” said Tom Rosenstiel, a professor of the practice at the University of Maryland’s journalism school. “And suddenly, both publications were doing four, five stories about the bridge. A lot of enterprise, a lot of deep sourcing.”
In a country pocked with “news deserts” and grappling with a decadeslong decline in local journalism, Baltimore was experiencing the opposite. The aggressive growth of the startup Banner in the past two years meant that the city had not one, but two powerhouse newsrooms ready to cover that devastating night in March.
But what appeared to be a burgeoning “newspaper war” — offering Baltimorians a new era of in-depth, daily coverage — now faces an uncertain future.
New ownership at the Sun has driven staff and some readers away. Since its former managing editor retired in June, at least 18 journalists have quit. Morale is low in the 56-person newsroom as its billionaire new owner David Smith, the top executive of news chain Sinclair Broadcast Group, transforms the paper.
