There's no doubt that we work in a competitive business.

News media organizations are constantly working to outshine each other within a given market, whether it's the national battles among networks and national newspapers, or metropolitan markets such as the one right here in central New York.

And battles play out in smaller markets within metro regions, including right here in Cayuga County.

Journalists strive to get scoops, stories of which they are the first media outlet to report to the public. And when journalists get scooped themselves, they often try to figure out a way to follow up the story that advances it beyond what their competitors had done.

In the end, the competition makes for better news coverage, and that's beneficial for the community being covered. That's why it's sad - and a little scary - to see the near death of two-newspaper major cities in this country.

But I'm writing today to bring your attention to how the competition can be put on hold on rare occasions for the greater good.

The Citizen and the Syracuse-based Post-Standard newspaper, through its Auburn bureau, have long competed in the coverage of this community. While reporters and photographers from the two companies have cordial relationships with each other, there's no doubt they all want to break stories first.

The coverage of the Auburn Department of Public Works theft/amnesty scandal was an example of that, for sure. But at a certain point in the process, both companies realized they needed to work together to a certain extent.

With the city refusing to turn over information that we both felt was the public's right to see, the newspapers decided to join together and hire an attorney to help them take the case to court if needed. We got to the point where the attorney we hired wrote a letter stating the two newspapers would take the city to court over the matter unless records were released. A day after the letter was sent, we got some long-awaited documents.

We teamed up with our competitors for this matter for a couple of reasons. First, it certainly made economic sense in terms of sharing costs. But more importantly, we wanted to send a message that we were united in a fight that was at the heart of our missions.

And even though no one had the scoop in the next day's paper, the decision to team up was one we were glad to have made.

Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's columns appear Tuesdays in The Citizen and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231 or jeremy.boyer@lee.net