Former South Bend news rivals to partner
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Former longtime rivals in the South Bend media market are now partners. WNDU-TV, the NBC affiliate, and the South Bend Tribune have announced a news sharing collaboration. Beginning Monday, the TV station and the newspaper will share some content and partner on stories and special projects.
WNDU says its reporters will share their news content with the Tribune newsroom. Viewers will see Tribune reporters in newscasts contributing perspective on local stories.
“Both organizations are deeply rooted in the community, and we’re great at what they do individually,” said Tribune Executive Editor Ismail Turay. “But with the partnership, we will be stronger together as we continue our legacies of investigations and delivering local news that are important to Michiana residents.”
The newspaper was founded in 1872. In 2019, Mishawaka-based Schurz Communications sold the publication and divested its publishing division to New York-based GateHouse Media. Three years earlier, the company sold its radio stations and TV station, WSBT-TV, which was a competitor of WNDU.
The partners say WNDU meteorologists will provide daily weather to the newspaper. Veteran Tribune sports reporters will help contribute to local sports coverage for WNDU.
“This partnership is an alliance that will allow WNDU and The Tribune to bring more value to the community,” said WNDU-TV Vice President and General Manager Ron Bartholomew. “In mathematics, one plus one equals two. When you form an alliance like this, one plus one now equals three, because we create a value that’s going to be greater than we would represent separately.”
WNDU-TV is owned by Atlanta-based Gray Television. The University of Notre Dame sold the South Bend TV station in 2005 after owning it for 50 years.