Why are News Leader stories now showing up on local competitors’ websites?

I’m not sure why I need to continue my digital subscription with The News Leader anymore, now that News Leader news articles are appearing on the websites of The News Virginian and The Daily Progress.

I just noticed this yesterday, but after talking with a former colleague of mine from The News Virginian, and then doing a search on the NewsVirginian.com website, it appears this arrangement has been ongoing for close to a month now.

When I click on the Local News tabs for both the NV and the Progress, I get recent headlines from Leader staff writers Lyra Bordelon and Brad Zinn on the new Augusta County Courthouse and a local embezzlement case.

I can see why the NV, in particular, would be keen on this arrangement – Lee Enterprises, the parent company of the NV, the Progress and a number of other local papers in Virginia, let go of the NV’s one and only editorial staffer earlier this year.

As a result, the “local news” that local readers in Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta County got from the NV was in the form of lightly rewritten news releases and breaking news on car crashes and crimes.

The Leader still has four local reporters in its Staunton newsroom, so, a fair amount of local news there.

I don’t see what the Leader, and its parent company, USA Today Co., get from having their stories featured on the websites of the competition news organizations, other than, I would assume USA Today Co. is charging the folks at Lee Enterprises for the content.

I’ll hope for their sake that they’re getting more from Lee Enterprises than they’re getting from me, because faced with the choice of subscribing to a News Leader that only has local news from its four local staffers and then national headlines from USA Today Co., and the Lee Enterprises folks who can give me the local news from the News Leader and also local news from their other Lee properties in Virginia, I mean, seriously.

I used to subscribe to both, incidentally, and only dropped the News Virginian product because the Lee people laid off their one final editorial staffer.

Not being a cheapstake, but if I can get the Leader content on Lee, why pay for both?