Another sign of how newspapers and other media outlets are trying to change models in tough times ... In one of the highest-profile examples of news sharing between major media, the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post have agreed to share some sports and Maryland coverage. Both papers have been trimming staff to cut costs as revenues drop; the Sun is under the extra financial pressure of being owned by the bankrupt Tribune Co. The agreement leaves room for each paper to retain its exclusives and for dual coverage. Articles in areas where the two consider themselves direct competitors—Maryland state government, for instance—also are carved out. But the two will no longer block use of national, international or feature articles carried by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post (NYSE: WPO) News Service in the competing paper. The Post outnumbers Sun subscribers roughly 3 to 1 (622,714 to 218,923) with some overlap. Release.

On the digital side, according to the AP, the agreement allows online sharing but only after articles appear in print in the originating paper.

WaPo: The arrangement starts Jan. 1. “Robert J. McCartney, the Post’s assistant managing editor for Metro news, said his staff would coordinate with Sun editors on stories in some areas of Maryland. ‘So, if a story broke on Eastern Shore or in Western Maryland, then we’d talk with the Sun and figure out who was in a better position to send a reporter, and both papers would use that reporter’s story. ... Of course, both papers can send their own reporters if they choose.’”