Two major US newspaper chains, Gannett and McClatchy, plan to drastically cut their business ties with the Associated Press, which provides news reports and images to outlets around the world.
Gannett, the largest newspaper company in the United States and the publisher of USA Today, said Tuesday that, starting Monday, it will no longer use articles, photos and videos from the AP in its hundreds of publications.
“Between USA Today and our incredible network of more than 200 newsrooms, we produce more journalism every day than the AP,” Kristin Roberts, Gannett’s chief content officer, wrote in a company note.
Ms. Roberts noted that Gannett will continue to use the AP for election data and its stylebook, which provides guidance on language and journalistic practices. He added that Gannett had signed a deal with a rival news agency, Reuters, for global news “while we build our capabilities.”
Lark-Marie Antón, a Gannett spokeswoman, said in a statement that the decision “enables us to further invest in our newsrooms.”
McClatchy, which hedge fund Chatham Asset Management bought out of bankruptcy in 2020, told its publishers this week that it will stop using some AP services next month. McClatchy operates about 30 newspapers, including The Miami Herald and The Kansas City Star, as well as a Washington, D.C. bureau
In an email sent Monday, Kathy Vetter, McClatchy’s senior vice president of news and audience, said the AP feed would end on March 29 and that no AP content could be published after March 31. He said, however, that McClatchy will continue to use the AP’s election results.
“With this decision, we will no longer pay millions for content that serves less than 1 percent of our readers,” Ms. Vetter wrote in the email, which was seen by The New York Times. “In most cases we found replacements. However, we are still working on a universal solution for state “wire” content.
McClatchy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton said talks with Gannett and McClatchy about their contracts “have been productive and are ongoing.”
“We appreciate that these are difficult decisions to make and deeply understand the challenges facing the news industry,” Ms. Easton said in a statement. “At the same time, this would be a disservice to news consumers across the U.S. who will no longer see fact-based journalism from the AP.”
The AP, founded in 1846, has reporters in every state and in nearly 100 countries. It provides wire content, including articles, photos and video, to publications and broadcasters around the world, including The New York Times.
It also plays a central role in US election coverage: Many major news organizations use its election data, and some wait for the AP to call a race before reporting a winner.
AP once relied primarily on licensing fees from newspapers, but now has a variety of other revenue streams, including a news site, an e-commerce site, and software and production services. According to an article on its website, fees from American newspapers account for about 10 percent of AP’s income.
“The loss of McClatchy and Gannett would not have a material impact on our overall revenue,” Ms. Easton said.
