CNN to provide new wire service

CNN is courting newspapers -- and possibly competing with The Associated Press -- with a new wire service the cable network plans to launch soon, with plans for an all-expenses-paid, three-day summit in December to show off its news gathering capabilities.

In a letter to numerous newspaper editors, CNN is boasting its new CNN Wire will "provide stories of interest to your newspaper and online readers -- breaking news, national, international, business, politics, consumer, medical, and more. We are talking to a variety of newspapers and newspaper groups, large and small, about this project."

The letter, sent last week from Joe Middelburg, CNN Newsource Sales' vice president of sales & affiliate relations, adds: "Like most major news organizations, CNN has its own internal wire service to provide original reporting on world news. With a worldwide staff of 3,800 people, 22 international bureaus, soon to be 15 domestic bureaus (including Seattle), 900 North American TV broadcast affiliates, a Web site, and a radio network, we are able to maintain a strong flow of up-to-the-minute stories. We now believe we have the base to offer this service to other news organizations."

Click on the headline to read the full story by Joe Strupp in Editor & Publisher