Tribune Co., one of the country's biggest newspaper chains, signaled it may drop its contract with the Associated Press, highlighting the growing rift between the news cooperative and the papers it was created to serve.The AP requires two years' notice for members to cut ties. Tribune issued the notice this week, entitling the chain to drop its AP contract in 2010. The notice isn't a firm commitment to sever ties, however.
Tribune, which publishes eight major dailies including the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, would be the largest newspaper chain to scuttle its relationship with the 162-year-old organization. Other papers -- chafing against AP's fees and a feeling that the AP no longer considers newspapers to be important customers -- have sought to drop AP services or find alternatives.
Newspapers pay annual fees to use content produced by 3,000 AP reporters around the globe to fill in their coverage of local, national and international stories, a particularly valuable resource as local papers cut their newsroom staffs in response to declining revenue. But in recent years, rifts have formed in the long-genial relationship between newspaper members and the AP over prices and the AP's efforts to focus more on its customers in broadcast news and online.
For its part, Tribune characterized its notice to the AP as part of its continuing efforts to scrutinize its expenses. The company, which went private last December, is grappling with falling advertising sales and a steep debt load.
Tribune said in a statement that its papers over the next two years "will continue to work with AP, but also will consider options."
"We understand that in this climate a lot of newspapers are re-examining their strategies," the AP 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 AP and Tribune declined to say how much the company pays in fees but a collection of eight midsize Ohio papers pays $5 million a year.
A potentially severed AP relationship casts a spotlight on Tribune Chairman Sam Zell, who is an AP board member. An AP spokesman said Tribune's two-year notice doesn't affect Mr. Zell's current board status. He would have to step down from his elected post when Tribune's AP contract ends.
