• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, December 2, 2008

A series of new services and partnerships have emerged to challenge the Associated Press in recent weeks, spelling more trouble for the news service, which has seen some big customers cancel their memberships as a cost-cutting measure during the recession.

In the latest development, the McClatchy Co. said it will share foreign news stories written with The Christian Science Monitor. The deal does not pose an immediate threat to the AP, as McClatchy CEO Gary Pruitt confirmed in late October that the newspaper group is staying in the organization, which is collectively owned by 1,400 newspaper members.

Still, the arrangement could lessen McClatchy's dependence on AP's international news--opening the way for more substantial content-sharing arrangements, which may prove a long-term threat. McClatchy--the third-largest newspaper company in the country--has 30 daily newspapers, including The Miami Herald.

Currently, McClatchy and CSM say their partnership is in a trial phase. However, the temporary three-month deal may be extended and even expanded in the future. As it stands, the content-sharing will only involve stories written by two McClatchy bureaus in Nairobi, Kenya, and Caracas, Venezuela, and two CSM correspondents in New Delhi and Mexico City. While it has a small print circulation in the U.S., the CSM's international reporting has won wide respect for its sophistication and depth.

The partnership between McClatchy and CSM follows the debut of a new wire service from CNN about a month ago, which the cable network is pushing as a low-cost alternative to the AP. CNN Wire will draw on reporting from about 3,000 journalists around the world, according to CNN.

There are some obvious obstacles, as CNN specializes in TV news reporting versus newspapers, which deal in text. However, CNN's move to deliver text-based journalism via its Web site has given it experience in translating video news stories into copy. Plus, newspaper Web sites have been rolling out more online video news, hinting at another possible area of cooperation. (So far, no plans have been made public to license video news through CNN Wire).

Some newspapers have entered into new content-sharing relationships, in large part because they believe the AP's news service is too costly. In late October, the beleaguered Tribune Co. said it was dropping its AP membership, and E.W. Scripps is said to be considering the same.

Earlier this year, The Columbus Dispatch, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, and several other regional newspapers said they were canceling their AP memberships. Meanwhile, eight Ohio newspapers formed their own news-sharing service, hinting that they might drop the AP, and Pennsylvania papers are considering a similar move.

Feeling the squeeze, the AP announced in late November that it will cut 10% of its total workforce in the coming year, or about 400 positions out of a total 4,100. Chief executive Tom Curley broke the news in a Webcast with AP offices, in which he said that a substantial proportion of the cuts will have to come from the newsroom, since journalists already make up three-quarters of the AP's staff.