More problems for newspapers

By: Callie McBroom

Some newspaper companies are making decisions to drop news services provided by the Associated Press. This is related to AP's recent plans to change the rate structure for their services.

The newest newspaper to give notice of their plans to drop AP services is Tribune Company. This company owns 9 big daily newspapers, including Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. And before this, at least 4 others pledged to do the same.

The plan causing so much controversy would only provide some of the stories it is currently providing now for a lower price. The rest of the coverage would be available for an extra fee.

AP expected the plan, that will go into effect as of 2009, to save members money overall. However, many companies believe that this plan is not cost-effective for their operations. This has led to them giving the required 2 years notice to AP to drop services.

The question now is will these changes help or hurt the newspaper industry's major problems