Tribune Company Papers To Give Up AP For One Week

CHICAGO — Tribune Co., owner of The Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and several other news outlets, will not use most Associated Press content next week to test whether the financially struggling company can do without it, according to a story on the Chicago Tribune's Web site.

Tribune said it will use some AP material such as sports statistics and stories it considers vital. The Chicago-based company said it is trying to determine whether severing ties with the news cooperative next fall is a viable option.

The company's television stations and newspapers' online editions will not participate in the experiment. Tribune also owns 23 TV stations, The Baltimore Sun and other dailies.

"AP appreciates and understands that newspapers are looking for ways to confront challenging economic times and one way might be considering how they use content from the AP and other sources," said AP spokesman Paul Colford. "At the same time, we continue to work with our member newspapers to make sure the AP, which is the gold standard of breaking news, remains a vital interest to newspapers, their publishers and their readers."

Tribune newspapers' print editions will rely on Tribune staff and several other news sources including Reuters, The New York Times and GlobalPost next week. Not all the sources are normally available to Tribune papers, according to the company.

"It is a practical way of assessing the implications of doing businesses without the AP wire," Tribune Co. spokesman Gary Weitman said Tuesday. The company will look at using the other news sources to "fill the void" if there is one, he added.

Last year, Tribune Co. gave the AP a two-year warning that it might drop the service, effective Oct. 15, 2010. Tribune Co. said at the time that it was keeping its options open while weighing what role AP would play in its future.

As of AP's annual meeting in April, about 180 newspapers – 14 percent of the AP's U.S. newspaper membership – had threatened to leave the news service. Reasons varied, but many complaints centered on cost.

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The AP Board of Directors in April announced a new $35 million in rate reductions for 2010 for its member newspapers on top of $30 million in rate reductions for 2009. The AP expected the total assessment decreases for papers would average just less than 20 percent, but will vary widely depending on what content newspapers buy.

The AP also will allow, effective Jan. 1, its members to cancel their membership on a one-year notice instead of the current two-year requirement.

Tribune filed for bankruptcy protection in December because of dwindling advertising revenues and a crushing debt load of $13 billion. Much of that debt was amassed when real estate mogul Sam Zell took the company private in 2007.

Tribune properties across the country have undergone cost cuts, including layoffs.

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On the Net:

Tribune Co.: http://www.tribune.com/

Comments

[mcmutter]

tell the AP to go to he//

[steppenwolfsayshi]

Darn. I was hoping they were going to say that they were going to try writing something to see if people might like to read that instead of repeating stories readily available on a website.

[factotem]

Would be so awesome to see AP and their tepid corporate journalism fail.

[larry278]

AP is in an interesting position. Many newspapers which had formerly used AP have folded. The Trib may not be noticably worse if it stops using AP for a week. AP doesn't have a web site which could be compared to the Reuters web site. AP isn't as vital & useful as the Reuters web site. AP's ploys to stay alive aren't contributing to AP's short or long term survival. AP is proposing to get a fee from web users who use AP. Web users could stay away from AP in droves if AP charges web users who use AP a fee.
AP's fate may bear watching; but if I have to pay to watch AP totter on to oblivion, I'll do without AP. Some free site might report it if AP collapses & folds.
The prognosis for the Trib & Sun-Times are guarded. Since the Trib owns the LA Times, some dailys in 1 paper declining cities, radio & TV stations plus a home improvement co in Elkheart, In, when the Trib folds it won't be a Chicago only event.