TheWrap Partners in Launch of Reuters America

TheWrap has joined forces with Reuters to be an anchor partner in its launch of Reuters America, an alternative to the AP

We've been waiting for some time to let you know that TheWrap has joined forces with Reuters in its launch of Reuters America.

The new service, announced Monday night by Thomson Reuters Corp, is the first major attempt by the global news provider to gain market share in America over traditional competitors the Associated Press and CNN.

Reuters has partnered with only six news outlets to supplement their offering to newspaper publishers and television stations. TheWrap is one of them, and the only entertainment source. 

The first customer, Reuters has announced, is Tribune Co, which includes The Los Angeles Times.

As a media organization not yet two years old, we are incredibly proud to forge this partnership with such a venerable financial news service (and my own alma mater) as Reuters.

We believe it is a sign of the credibility and authoritative editorial voice that TheWrap has established in that short time.

We look forward to seeing Wrap content in a growing number of U.S. newspapers and broadcasters soon.

Here's the full Reuters story about the service.

Thomson Reuters starts service for U.S. news media

 

NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) – Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO) (TRI.N) has launched a news service for U.S. publishers and broadcasters in a bid to win business from the Associated Press and CNN.

The new service, Reuters America, provides text stories, photos and video by Reuters journalists for newspapers, television stations and online publishers. Newspaper publisher and broadcaster Tribune Co is its first customer.

As part of the service, Reuters America also will offer sports and entertainment news from six partners: TheWrap.com, SportsDirect Inc, the Sports Xchange, US Presswire, SB Nation and Examiner.com

The service comes as newspapers and TV stations try to recover from the worst financial recession in recent memory.

Tribune Co, which owns the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times and TV stations in New Orleans, San Diego and Denver, has signed a multi-year deal. Terms were not disclosed.

Reuters is hiring journalists and using outside journalists, or "stringers," to provide general news stories in addition to its business and financial news. It also will write stories commissioned by its news clients.

"This is being designed and being run in a way that is not one size fits all," said Chris Ahearn, Thomson Reuters' president of media. "It gives (publishers) comfort and flexibility that there are other choices than… some of the legacy providers."

Thomson Reuters, which provides financial and professional data and owns the Reuters news agency, is making a "multimillion dollar" investment in technology and editorial resources, Ahearn said.

It wants to offer an alternative to entrenched services such as the AP, a cooperative owned mainly by U.S. newspaper members that pay fees to the news service.

Newspaper publishers, including the bankrupt Tribune Co, have been dealing with plunging advertising revenue, falling print sales and heavy debt from acquisition sprees over the last 20 years. Many publishers have cut costs by stripping away sections, laying off workers and outsourcing print delivery.

"The heat is by no means off on newspapers to find new ways to reduce expenses," said Rick Edmonds, a researcher and writer on business and journalism for the Poynter Institute.

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