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The Associated Press will decimate its work force over the next year, cutting 10% of headcount due to a reduction in fees paid by member newspapers.

 

The global news company will lose more than 400 positions from a staff of 4,100, and the cuts will include some of the news co-operative's 3,000 journalists.

 

CEOP Tom Curley told the staff in a meeting via webcast that he hopes most of the cuts will be achieved through attrition, but he did not rule out layoffs.

 

Asked if the cuts would include newsroom jobs, Curley noted that 75 per cent of the staff are journalists. "Everybody's going to participate," he said.

 

The news co-operative faces rising competition, including from Time Warner's CNN unit, which is forming a wire service it intends to market to newspapers.

 

More than 100 AP member newspapers have threatened to quit the service, including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.

 

Founded in 1846, the AP serves 1,500 newspapers and 5,000 radio and television station members in the United States.

 

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