US papers buy others' international reporting to cut costs

The Tribune Co. is considering buying its foreign and international coverage from the Washington Post, reported the Wall Street Journal, in a deal that could mean the closure of dozens of Tribune bureaus.  

According to the WSJ, talks between Tribune and the Post Co. have been under way for more than a month but no agreement has been reached.  The move could save the Tribune Co. millions of dollars a year.  As the company is currently operating under bankruptcy protection, this sounds particularly appealing.  

Other papers are also looking at cost-saving measures for the coverage of news outside their territories.  The New York Daily News has decided to use new international news website GlobalPost for its foreign news coverage, and according to the Gannett Blog, the company is testing a service to replace some Associated Press news stories on websites of its 84 US community newspapers.  The idea is that the AP stories would be replaced by stories from Gannett-owned USA Today, saving up to a million dollars a year.

Source: Wall Street Journal, Gannett Blog