This is a good week to brush off those Tribune contacts.
Starting Nov. 8, the Tribune Co. will go AP-free for one week. That means the company’s numerous print media properties will fill its pages with news reports from either its own staff or reports from other newspapers.
The company’s TV stations and Web sites will not take part in this trial.
Phil Rosenthal, the Chicago Tribune’s media columnist, has the scoop:
The goal, as the papers review costs and needs, is to see whether severing ties with the news cooperative next fall is a viable option, the Chicago-based media company confirmed Monday.
…
Besides the content provided by the staff of its own titles, Tribune Co. newspapers will draw from such news sources as Reuters, The Washington Post, New York Times, Agence France Presse, Cable News Network, Global Post, Bloomberg and McClatchy newspapers during its AP-less trial. Not all of those sources are normally available to Tribune Co. papers.
Some content will still require the AP, Rosenthal said. For instance, sports statistics and news coverage that only the AP provides (probably breaking news and hot scoops).
Tribune-owned newspapers are the Chicago Tribune, RedEye (the Chicago Tribune’s free commuter daily), The Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, The Hartford Courant, The Morning Call (in Allentown, PA), Daily Press (in Newport News, VA), Hoy and El Sentinel (in Orlando).
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Comments (3)
I didn't say -- or mean to imply -- that the content of the post was "useless." My comment was a response to the subhead "Get your pitches ready." This wording smacks of blue-sky, PR wishful thinking: "Hit the phones (or the "send" key), junior account executives. The media needs you." (I cringe as I write that, for the sake of my colleagues in the media and the image of the PR profession.) While staffs are shrinking at news organizations, so is the space and airtime for editorial content. I don't see any good news in this for PR practitioners or anyone else. A succinct, well-targeted story idea of genuine interest (to the recipient)is welcome in good times and bad. But it can be tougher nowadays to place even a strong story than it was in the recent past.
Posted by Nat Silverman | November 10, 2009 2:59 PM
Posted on November 10, 2009 14:59
It says that the paper will be replacing AP content with "content provided by the staff of its own titles" and with content from other news agencies.
Otherwise, you are correct, the story from the Chicago Tribune's Phil Rosenthal does not say: "PR pros, pitch us this week. We'd love to hear from you."
Although in my experience, when you read about layoffs at newspapers or magazines, there is never a quote from a media executive or editor saying, "Because we've cut so much staff, and the existing employees have so much more work to do, it'd be great if PR pros would send us a succinct pitch for a story packages that is really easy to put together."
So, I guess that means that reading about media industry layoffs--and media industry developments, like the Tribune going AP-free--is pretty much a waste of time.
Sorry to have bothered you with this useless information.
Posted by Michael Sebastian | November 9, 2009 12:57 PM
Posted on November 9, 2009 12:57
Get your pitches ready? For what? Nothing in the story indicates that the Chicago Tribune will be replacing AP wire copy with PR-generated materials or that their ever-shrinking editorial staff will be more receptive to PR "pitches." It says here that the paper will be replacing the AP feed with content from other news agencies.
Posted by Nat Silverman | November 8, 2009 11:13 PM
Posted on November 8, 2009 23:13