Gannett and McClatchy have reversed their relationship with AP

Two major US newspaper chains, Gannett and McClatchy, plan to drastically reduce their business relationships with The Associated Press, which provides news and images to media outlets around the world.

Gannett, the largest newspaper company in the United States and publisher of USA Today, said Tuesday that starting Monday it would no longer use articles, photos and videos from The AP in its hundreds of publications.

“Between USA Today and our incredible network of more than 200 newsrooms, we create more journalism than The AP every day,” Kristin Roberts, Gannett’s chief content officer, wrote in a company memo.

Ms. Roberts noted that Gannett would continue to use The AP for election data and its stylebook, which provides guidance on language and journalistic practices. She added that Gannett had signed an agreement with a rival news agency, Reuters, for global news “as we build our capacity.”

Lark-Marie Antón, a spokeswoman for Gannett, said in a statement that the decision “allows us to further invest in our newsrooms.”

McClatchy, which bought hedge fund Chatham Asset Management out of bankruptcy in 2020, told its editors this week that it would stop using certain AP services next month. McClatchy operates approximately 30 newspapers, including The Miami Herald and The Kansas City Star, as well as a bureau in Washington, D.C.

In an email sent Monday, Kathy Vetter, McClatchy’s senior vice president of news and audiences, said The AP’s feed would end on March 29 and that no AP content would be published after March 31. However, she said McClatchy would continue to use the AP’s election results data.

“With this decision, we will no longer pay millions for content that serves less than 1 percent of our readers,” Ms. Vetter wrote in the email, which was viewed by The New York Times. “In most cases we have found replacements. However, we are still working on a universal solution for the content of state threads.”

McClatchy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lauren Easton, a spokeswoman for The AP, said discussions with Gannett and McClatchy about their contracts “have been productive and are ongoing.”

“We recognize that these are difficult decisions to make and deeply understand the challenges facing the news industry,” Ms. Easton said in a statement. “At the same time, this would be a disservice to news consumers in the US, who would no longer see fact-based journalism from The AP”

Founded in 1846, the AP has reporters in every state and nearly 100 countries. It provides wire content, including articles, photos and videos, to publications and broadcasters worldwide, including The New York Times.

It also plays a central role in US election coverage, with many major news organizations using their election data, and some waiting for The AP to do so call a race before announcing a winner.

Once dependent primarily on licensing fees from newspapers, the AP now has a variety of other revenue sources, including a news website, an e-commerce site and software and production services. According to an article on its website, fees from U.S. newspapers account for about 10 percent of The AP’s revenue.

“The loss of McClatchy and Gannett would not have a material impact on our overall revenue,” Ms. Easton said.