LA Times, Post news service calls it quits

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The 47-year-old Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service came to an end with a seemingly amicable divorce, two newspaper executives said.

The news service with more than 600 clients was dissolved without a specific reason given, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

Boisfeuillet Jones Jr., vice chairman of the Post Co., said, "the news business and our newsrooms have evolved … we felt at this time it made sense for us to proceed separately."

Los Angeles Times publisher Eddy Hartenstein said the companies "agreed the time has come to move in separate directions."

Despite the lack of explanation, the syndicate was clearly jolted when the Tribune Co. purchased the Times, The Baltimore Sun, Newsday and the Hartford Courant in 2000, the Post said.

Both companies have had to make substantial cuts to weather the recession, but the Tribune Co, owned by Sam Zell, filed for bankruptcy protection.

The Los Angeles Times will join the McClatchy-Tribune Information Services, which has more than 1,200 clients.