In a historic role reversal, the reportage of Yahoo Inc.s foreign correspondent Kevin Sites is being distributed to print publications via Scripps Howard News Service, both companies said Friday.
The Scripps-Yahoo relationship is of note because, for the first time, Yahoo is syndicating some of the content it had a hand in creating.
Historically, Yahoos news operation has only distributed other providers news through its Web pages, thus playing the role of aggregator that relies solely on syndicates. The rare bit of news content Yahoo did create stayed exclusive to Yahoo.
But that all changed about two weeks ago, when Scripps, home once of legendary war reporter Ernie Pyle, began distributing a few of Sites stories and photos to scores of newspapers, magazines and other publications that partner with Scripps.
When asked whether this is the start of a Yahoo syndication business, a Yahoo spokesperson said the company is for now only working with Scripps, a longtime Yahoo partner.
Scripps has historically been open to using material provided by nontraditional sources, such as cooking columns by stars of the Food Channel television network or using material from TheKnot, a matrimony advice Web site, said Scripps Howard News Service Managing Editor Karen Timmons.
“Were pumped to have him on board,” Timmons said. Scripps plans to distribute a Yahoo-generated story and perhaps a photo a week, “depending on what hes got,” she adds.