Washington Post, Bloomberg to launch news service

The Washington Post and Bloomberg News are teaming up in a new partnership that will distribute their political and financial coverage to a broader audience.

The venture announced yesterday includes a news service that fills the void created by the dissolution of a 47-year alliance between the Post and the Los Angeles Times. The newspapers disclosed their plans to divorce on Wednesday.

Besides distributing about 120 stories per day beginning January 1 to other news organisations, the Post and Bloomberg will share content with each other and co-produce an online business news page on the Post's website.

Financial terms of the arrangement weren't disclosed. The deal will help the Post compensate for a staff that has been shrinking in recent years. Like large newspapers across the United States, the Post has been shedding employees because of a steep drop in advertising sales.

The Post's ad revenue from its print edition plunged 27 per cent in the first half of this year, leaving the newspaper with $57 million less to pay its expenses.

New York-based Bloomberg hasn't been as hard hit because it doesn't rely as much on advertising. It caters to investors, bankers and other financial services employees who pay to receive a variety of business coverage and data through Bloomberg terminals. Some of the Post's coverage will now be sent to those terminals.