Kyodo News, Mainichi Newspapers form editorial, business tie-up+

TOKYO, Nov. 26 Kyodo -
Kyodo News and Mainichi Newspapers Co. said Thursday they have agreed to form
an editorial and business tie-up effective on April 1, creating the first
alliance of a news agency, its member regional newspapers and a major daily
with a nationwide circulation amid a worsening business environment for the
print news media.

Kyodo News and Mainichi Newspapers can ''reinforce each other's competence and
presence through efficient business collaboration,'' Kyodo News President
Satoshi Ishikawa said at a press conference.
Mainichi Newspapers President Yutaka Asahina said the alliance will ''enable
Mainichi reporters to cover news in an original and in-depth manner'' as they
will be freed from reporting announcements by government offices and
businesses.
Under the agreement, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper will use Kyodo News'
domestic and international news reports for its newspaper, starting next April.
The alliance will bring the total circulation of the Mainichi Shimbun and Kyodo
News' 56 member companies to over 30 million.
Kyodo News, the Mainichi Shimbun and other member newspapers will work together
to upgrade the coverage of local news, according to the agreement.
The agreement also envisages cooperation between the three parties in a variety
of operations including symposiums, athletic and cultural events, printing and
sales promotion of newspapers.
Attending the press conference together with Ishikawa and Asahina, Akishige
Tada, president of the Nishinippon Shimbun and chairman of the Kyodo News board
of directors, said the alliance is expected to ''open a new dimension'' for the
potency of news organizations.
Kyodo News is Japan's biggest news agency providing news reports to Japanese
and overseas newspapers, broadcasters and news organizations. Founded in 1945,
the nonprofit agency, with a workforce of some 1,700, supplies news stories not
only in Japanese but also in English and Chinese.
Mainichi Newspapers was established in 1872 and is one of Japan's three largest
newspapers in terms of circulation. With about 2,850 workers on its payroll, it
has so far received mainly overseas news reports from Kyodo News.
==Kyodo
2009-11-26 23:29:45