Posted by chicagomedia.org on October 17, 2008 at 09:52:48:
Tribune Co. tells AP it may leave
Tribune Co. confirmed Thursday that it has notified the Associated Press this week that the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and its other newspapers it might end their relationship with the news cooperative, effective in October 2010.
The company's contract with the AP requires it to give two years' notice for termination. Monday's notice, which would enable Tribune Co. newspapers to drop the wire service as of Oct. 15. 2010, will have no immediate impact on the papers but begins a dialogue internally and with the cooperative over what role, if any, the AP will play in their future.
"As you know, Tribune is evaluating all of its expenses across the company and trying to be more efficient," the company said Thursday in a statement.
"Our newspapers choose from a wide variety of sources for content, including AP. Over the next 2 years, our newspapers will continue working with AP, but also will consider options to the content currently being offered by the news cooperative. This decision will have absolutely no immediate impact on our newspapers."
The move by Tribune Co. papers is the biggest potential AP defection to date and comes 10 months after billionaire Sam Zell took Chicago-based media giant private late last year. Zell, Tribune Co.'s chairman and chief executive, was elected to the Associated Press' board of directors last spring.
Other papers -- including The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, The Bakersfield Californian, The Post Register of Idaho Falls, and The Yakima (Wash.) Herald-Republic and Wenatchee (Wash.) World -- have given AP their two-year notice in advance of the cooperative implementing a controversial new rate structure next year, however.
The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., has said it seeks to sever its relationship with the AP at the end of this year, contending the new rate schedule voids the contract that requires more warning. And, although it has not given notice to the cooperative, The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., experimented one day last month by publishing one day without using any AP content recently.
"We understand that in this climate a lot of newspapers are re-examining their strategies," the wire service said in a statement. "The Associated Press will continue to work with all members of the cooperative to ensure that we are providing the most efficient, valued and essential news service for them."
The Associated Press' announcement last year of a new rate structure that would take effect in 2009 was greeted with howls of protest from many newspapers. Member papers now pay AP for a general news package tailored to their size and location. The new plan will have papers getting all available breaking news dispatches from around the world and other states with premium non-breaking content available at an added cost.
The change comes as some newspapers are determining shared wire content that is available to readers from many other outlets is less valuable to them than unique, proprietary content, especially online. Coupled with reductions in the space they allocate in print for news, papers are weighing whether there's the same need for Associated Press content as in the past--even as the newsroom staffs that produce their unique content shrink.
(Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune)