CNN ends 27-year Reuters relationship

CNN has said that it will no longer use content from the Reuters news agency, ending a 27-year relationship.

The TV news network has made the move, it says, to take greater control of its output, and invest the money saved from the contract - a rumoured $3.5 million - in growing its own newsgathering operation.

Both parties have said the decision was in no way a reflection on the service or quality of the content CNN had received from Reuters, but that it was about "content ownership."

In an internal memo to staff, reported on the Reuters website, Tony Maddox, executive vice president of CNN International, said: "To advantage CNN in the content marketplace and manage the continually rising costs associated with acquired assets, we are making significant investments in our own news gathering while simultaneously reducing our reliance on agency material."

CNN's contracts with Reuters competitor Associated Press and Associated Press Television News, and its affiliate deal with ITN, remain in place.