CNN Pitches a Cheaper Wire Service to Newspapers

[dkf]

CNN, in the afterglow of an election season of record ratings for cable news, is elbowing in on a new line of business: catering to financially strained newspapers looking for an alternative to The Associated Press.

Jessica McGowan for The New York Times

CNN already runs an internal wire service, says Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide.


Tom Curley, the head of The Associated Press, said CNN’s service needed improvement.

For nearly a month, a trial version of CNN’s wire service has been on display in some newspapers. But this week editors from about 30 papers will visit Atlanta to hear CNN’s plans to broaden a service to provide coverage of big national and international events — and maybe local ones — on a smaller scale and at a lower cost than The A.P.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/business/media/01cnn.html