At a time when most newspapers are rapidly increasing their online and video content, the international television giant CNN is making a lunge in the reverse direction. At a meeting of editors at its Atlanta headquarters this week, CNN plans to unveil details of a new service, CNN Wire, which it will market to newspapers in competition with the Associated Press, the world's largest news-gathering operation.
CNN Wire will be cheaper, and start with less coverage than the AP, a nonprofit corporation owned by 1,400 member newspapers, a number of which have recently been grumbling about the high cost of the AP's services. Some have given notice that they intend to leave the organization.
CNN has told editors that its new wire will "provide stories of interest to your newspaper and online readers ‚ breaking news, national, international, business, politics, consumer, medical, and more," adding that it is talking to a variety of newspapers and newspaper groups, large and small, about the project.
News of CNN's move was first broken by Editor & Publisher, the journal of the North American newspaper industry, on October 28. The story made the New York Times December 1, in a report by Tom Arango and Richard Perez-Pena, "CNN Pitches a Cheaper Wire Service to Newspapers.'
The NYT says that editors from about 30 newspapers are expected to attend the Atlanta meeting to hear more details about the service, which will be developed from an internal wire service that CNN, with nearly 3,000 journalists around the world, already runs for its own bureaus. The CNN television network will continue to use the AP service while it develops its own competitor.
