Will Scripps Follow Tribune In Dropping AP?

By: Joe Strupp Just days after Tribune Co. revealed it had given its two-year notice to possibly drop the Associated Press following a recent new rate structure, another major newspaper chain indicated it is considering the same move and is negotiating with AP over rates.

E.W. Scripps, which owns 17 daily papers including the Rocky Mountain News in Denver and The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., declined to say if it already had or had not given notice to AP.

But in an e-mail to E&P, Tim King, Scripps vice president for corporate communications and investor relations, stated: "At this point, all I'd be comfortable saying is that we are a member in good standing of the AP, but we have been engaged in discussions concerning pricing so the future is uncertain."

Rocky Mountain News Editor and Publisher John Temple declined to comment on the situation when asked if notice had been given or if the chain would drop its AP membership. But he said he did believe his paper could operate without AP content.

?I think we are very close to being able to do so,? Temple told E&P. ?I think there are different papers that could put out a paper without AP in different ways. I believe you can do it and satisfy the needs of your readers.?

AP Spokesman Paul Colford declined to comment on Scripps' situation. The news cooperative just recently received the required two-year notice from Tribune, which owns nine daily papers, that could result in that chain dropping AP in 2010.

Several editors at a handful of Scripps papers declined to talk about the AP on the record, although several said changes could be in the offing. Don Kausler, editor of the Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail, said he did not know exactly when or if notice had been given, but said papers are ready to do without AP if needed.

?It?s much like what Tribune is doing, leaving options open,? Kausler said. ?When AP requires two-year?s notice, we see no harm in exercising that option. That doesn?t mean that in two years we won?t be running AP stories, but by giving notice, that can happen.?

Kausler said for a small paper like his, which often runs no more than one page a day of national and international news, AP can be expensive.

?Sports is probably the area where papers are more dependent on it,? he adds. ?But in the next two years, you will see more alternatives.?

Shane Fitzgerald, editor and vice president of Scripps' Corpus Christi (Tex.) Caller-Times, agrees: "We will just wait and see what happens. We have other wire services, too. We use AP and others."

The recent decisions to drop AP service follow the planned AP rate structure change, which was announced in 2007 and takes effect in 2009. The rate change initially prompted complaints from numerous newspapers, including two groups of editors who wrote angry letters to AP to complain in late 2007 and early 2008.

Under current AP policy, each newspaper buys a package of general news created by AP based on that paper's location and circulation. The package usually includes breaking news, sports, business, and other national, international, and regional news relevant to the client's market, including its state AP wire. ??

Under the new structure, AP member newspapers will receive all breaking news worldwide (including items from other state wires), as well as breaking sports, business, and entertainment stories. In addition, a package of premium content ? made up of five types of non-breaking stories including sports, entertainment, business, lifestyle and analysis ? will be available at an additional cost. ??

When the new structure was announced in 2007, AP promised a combined savings of $5.6 million across newspaper member budgets, which increased to $14 million ?and, finally, $21 million just days before the April annual AP meeting. AP also recently instituted a hiring freeze.

In recent months, other papers have given the required two-year's notice to drop AP. Those include: The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, The Bakersfield Californian, The Post Register of Idaho Falls, and The Yakima Herald-Republic and Wenatchee World, both of Washington.

The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., is trying to cut ties without a two-year notice, planning to discontinue AP content at the end of 2008. At least one newspaper, The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., tested the approach by publishing an entire newspaper for one day last month without AP content. So far, that paper has not given notice to cut the service.