WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post are ending their nearly 50-year-old syndication service in the latest shakeup in the US newspaper industry.
The Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service, which was launched in 1962 and has more than 600 clients around the world, will cease operations at the end of the year, the companies announced late Wednesday.
The Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times, said content from the newspaper would be incorporated into McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, a joint venture between the Tribune Co. and McClatchy newspapers which supplies material to some 1,200 clients worldwide.
McClatchy is the third-largest newspaper publisher in the United States. It owns 30 daily newspapers including The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Kansas City Star and The Charlotte Observer.
The Tribune Co., which filed for bankruptcy in December, owns the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, the Orlando Sentinel, the Hartford Courant and other dailies in addition to the Los Angeles Times.
The Post, in an article about the split, said the newspaper may market itself as a stand-alone news service or seek another partner.
The breakup between the Times and the Post comes as US newspapers seek ways to cope with a dramatic decline in print advertising revenue and the migration of readers to free news online.
The Times-Post News Service was launched by legendary publishers Otis Chandler of the Times and Philip Graham of the Post.
