National news service to distribute Cronkite stories

McClatchy-Tribune News Service is partnering with Arizona State University to distribute Cronkite News Service stories worldwide.

MCT, the Washington-based news service owned by The McClatchy Co. and Tribune Co., distributes news and feature content to 1,200 media clients in the U.S. and abroad from more than 60 news organizations. Cronkite News Service is the newest MCT partner.

Cronkite News Service is a daily news service with news bureaus in Phoenix and Washington operated by ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Student reporters cover public policy issues of specific interest to Arizona and the southwest.

MCT will distribute select CNS stories that have a national interest. The first CNS story distributed by the national news service detailed a U.S. Court of Appeals decision denying an emergency request to block the forced medication of Jared Lee Loughner, the man accused in the Jan. 8 Tucson shooting spree that killed six and wounded 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. The Sacramento Bee and other news organizations published that story.

Today news organizations from The Seattle Times to The Boston Herald ran CNS stories on Giffords return to Washington and another on federal prosecutions of illegal reentry into the U.S.

"We're pleased to welcome the Cronkite News Service as an MCT contributor," said Fred Povey, director of news services for McClatchy-Tribune. "We worked with Washington bureau chief Steve Crane for many years when he ran the Capital News Service at the University of Maryland, and we have distributed many stories from the Cronkite School's News21 project. So we're confident that the Cronkite News Service will provide MCT clients with high-quality journalism."

In addition, The Associated Press, the world’s largest newsgathering organization, will distribute select Cronkite News Service stories regionally to its news media subscribers in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Montana.

“Cronkite News Service has provided critically important news stories to Arizonans for nearly five years now, with CNS stories appearing across the states in newspapers and news websites as well as broadcast outlets,” said Cronkite Dean Christopher Callahan. “Now these powerful stories will have even more impact as readers across the region and the country will be able to read Cronkite News stories through these new partnerships with McClatchy-Tribune News Service and The Associated Press.”