• by Erik Sass , January 19, 2009

Desperately looking for ways to cut costs, Gannett Co. is building a new content-sharing service that would allow it to replace Associated Press content on the Web sites of 84 community newspapers, according to Jim Hopkins, a former Gannett staffer and blogger who occasionally publishes inside information provided by current employees or interested parties.

Hopkins, who correctly predicted layoffs and executive shuffles in the past, says the "AP Feed Project" is spearheaded by USA Today, according to an internal memo dated Dec. 19. The test phase of the project calls for a limited number of Gannett newspapers to swap their AP news feed for a comparable news feed from USA Today; management hopes for an eventual companywide rollout.

The test phase is beginning with an unspecified community newspaper in the Midwest at the same time that Gannett launches ContentOne, its new Web-based news service, which analysts speculate may someday replace AP news.

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

Among these new arrangements: McClatchy Co. said it will share foreign news stories written with The Christian Science Monitor. CNN debuted a new wire service, which the cable network is pushing as a low-cost alternative to the AP, while eight Ohio newspapers formed their own news-sharing service, hinting that they might drop the AP. Finally, some Pennsylvania papers are considering a similar move.

In late October 2008, the beleaguered Tribune Co. said it was dropping its AP membership, and E.W. Scripps is said to be considering the same. Earlier in the year, The Columbus Dispatch, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, and several other regional newspapers also said they were canceling their AP memberships.

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.