Press service closing

Press, 14 April 1984, Page 10

Press service closing

NZPA-I.P.S. Chicago The Independent Press Service, the oldest supplemental news wire in the United States, is calling it quits after more than 86 years of providing news and feature copy to newspapers around the world. The Chicago “Sun-Times” president and publisher, Mr Robert Page, said yesterday that the service was ending on May 1 because it was losing money. Founded by the nowdefunct Chicago “Daily News” in 1898 to provide coverage of the SpanishAmerican war, the service was bought by the Australian publisher, Rupert Murdoch, in January as part of a JUS97 million deal that included the Chicago “SunTimes,” the country's eighth-biggest newspaper. The Independent Press Service distributes articles from the “Sun-Times” and other American papers to about 140 clients in the United States and Canada, and A.A.P. in Australia and New Zealand. Many clients were attracted to the news service when it carried columns by Mike Royko, who left the “Sun-Times” after Mr Murdoch bought the paper. Royko is now syndicated by the Chicago “Tribune.”