Worldwide financial crises make for strange bedfellows. In attempt to weather the industry-wide tsunami five New York daily papers have agreed to share editorial content.

The New York Daily News, Albany Times Union, The Record (Bergen Co., NJ), The Buffalo News, and The Star-Ledger have formed something they are calling the Northeast Consortium. Says Marc Kramer, CEO of the New York Daily News: “As the Northeast Consortium, our publications will assist each other in gathering news, sports and features materials, giving our readers access to more and expanded content from the top newspapers in each of the respective markets.”

No word yet whether this pooling of resources will result in layoffs or whether it’s just another original way to keep them from happening. Full release after the jump.

NEW YORK (February 18, 2009) — Five major newspapers in the northeast today announced an agreement to share editorial content. The New York Daily News, Albany Times Union, The Record (Bergen Co., NJ), The Buffalo News, and The Star-Ledger have formed the Northeast Consortium, a cooperative arrangement that will enhance each publication’s coverage in the region by exchanging articles, photographs and graphics among the newspapers.

“As the Northeast Consortium, our publications will assist each other in gathering news, sports and features materials, giving our readers access to more and expanded content from the top newspapers in each of the respective markets,” said Marc Kramer, CEO of the New York Daily News.

Jim Willse, editor of The Star-Ledger, said, “The consortium is an opportunity for strong newspapers to become even stronger by sharing coverage. We look forward to contributing and receiving a variety of great stories.”

“Adding the work of these newspapers to our pages will give Capital Region readers access to some of the nation’s best coverage of news, sports and lifestyle topics,” said Rex Smith, editor and vice president of the Times Union. “We’re particularly pleased to be able to augment our already strong coverage of New York’s professional and collegiate sports teams. Information consumers have a wide range of choices nowadays, but this arrangement makes the Times Union’s value to readers all the more obvious.”

Stephen Borg, publisher of The Record, said, “We are excited to collaborate with these other papers. They excel in many areas. Record readers will benefit from expanded coverage. The Record will hopefully benefit the other papers in areas where we excel, like our coverage of the Meadowlands.”

Editor and Vice President Margaret M. Sullivan of The Buffalo News said, “This venture, which arises out of hard times in the newspaper business, should result in a win for everybody. I’m excited about the possibilities.”

The technical aspects of the agreement are being finalized and the members expect to be sharing their material in May, 2009.