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Just two examples:
Fact #1: Reporters for the Tampa Bay Times and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune were awarded the investigative reporting prize for collaborative reporting on escalating violence in Florida mental hospitals.
Think about it: Once, these two newspapers were fierce competitors, fighting over hundreds of thousands of readers in Manatee County, FL, which separates them. Now their reporters are sharing Pulitzer champagne!
Lessons: Don’t believe the diminished strength of one publication means diminished strength across journalism. Media organizations are realigning and reorganizing to sustain quality and strength. More limited resources mean old competitors are now new partners.
Fact #2: Reporters from ProPublica and The Marshall Project won the Explanatory Reporting Pulitzer for an exposé of law enforcement’s enduring failure to investigate reports of rape properly and to comprehend the traumatic effects on its victims.
Think about it: These two organizations are independent, nonprofit online organizations funded by wealthy donors. Pro Publica, started in 2007 and edited by former New York Times Washington bureau chief Steve Engelberg, focuses on investigative journalism in the public interest. The Marshall Project, started in 2013 and edited by former Times executive editor Bill Keller, concentrates on criminal justice.
Lessons: Non-profits are on the rise. They exist on the state and national level. Very experienced reporters and editors often staff the nonprofit newsrooms. Don’t dismiss them.
These changes play out in Austin, too. The Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV years ago entered into a deal sharing news, including a jointly conducted, hard-hitting investigation of the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.
New media partnerships and players largely share values of old media, but they confront reporting in some different ways, make heavy use of data analysis and publish on a variety of platforms — print, online and broadcast. They exist in a fast-paced, digital-first media consumption environment. This complicated environment requires smart and evolving communications strategies led by experienced hands that know the new journalists and understand the coming future.
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Rich Oppel Sr. was chairman of the Pulitzer Board in 2008-2009 and has been editor of three newspapers. He now serves as senior advisor for media strategy and engagement at Crosswind Media and Public Relations.
Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. has replaced CEO and former California Congressman Devin Nunes with Kevin McGurn, a seasoned media sales executive.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is being bought by the Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism, a nonprofit that is the parent organization of the Baltimore Banner... The British Broadcasting Corporation is axing approximately 2,000 jobs, about 10 percent of its work force... Snap, the company behind Snapchat, is also succumbing to layoff fever, announcing plans to lay off 16 percent of its employees, about 1,000 people.
CBS News Radio will go off the air on May 22, part of the axe-swinging managerial plan put into play by CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss... The Economist, which was first published in 1843, is changing hands. Canadian billionaire Stephen Smith has agreed to acquire a 26.9 percent stake in the publication from Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, her family and family foundation... Nexstar Media Group says it has closed its acquisition of TEGNA, the broadcast, digital media and marketing services company that was formed in 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publicly traded companies.
USA TODAY brings on Jamie Stockwell as VP of news, effective March 30. Stockwell was most recently deputy managing editor of news for the Washington Post... YouTube expands its likeness detection capabilities to a pilot group of government officials, journalists and political candidates... The AP Fund for Journalism adds 50 news organizations to its local news program, bringing the total number of participating newsrooms to 100. 
Versant Media Group, the NBCUniversal cable TV spin-off, today reported its first financial results as 2025 revenues dipped 5.3 percent to $6.7B and standalone EBITDA dropped 9.1 percent to $2.2B.
