Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, political cartoons,

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

s and other features to

newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...

, magazines and websites. The syndicates offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content of which they own and/or represent copyrights. Other terms for the service include a newspaper syndicate, a press syndicate, and a feature syndicate. The syndicate is an agency that offers features from notable journalists and authorities as well as reliable and established cartoonists. It fills a need among smaller weekly and daily newspapers for material that helps them compete with large urban papers, at a much lesser cost than if the client were to purchase the material themselves. Generally, syndicates sell their material to one client in each territory. News agencies differ in that they distribute news articles to all interested parties. Typical syndicated features are advice columns (parenting, health, finance, gardening, cooking, etc.), humor columns, editorial opinion, critic's reviews, and

gossip columns A gossip columnist is someone who writes a gossip column in a newspaper or magazine, especially a gossip magazine. Gossip columns are material written in a light, informal style, which relates the gossip columnist's opinions about the personal l ...

. Some syndicates specialize in one type of feature, such as comic strips.

Comic strip syndication

A comic strip syndicate functions as an agent for cartoonists and comic strip creators, placing the cartoons and strips in as many newspapers as possible on behalf of the artist. In some cases, the work will be owned by the syndicate as opposed to the creator. A syndicate can annually receive thousands of submissions from which only two or three might be selected for representation. The leading strip syndicates include Andrews McMeel Syndication, King Features Syndicate, and Creators Syndicate, with the Tribune Content Agency and

The Washington Post Writers Group ''The Washington Post'' Writers Group (WPWG), a division of The Washington Post News Service & Syndicate, is a press syndication service composed of opinion journalists, editorial cartoonists, comic strips and columnists. The service is operated ...

also in the running.

Editorial cartoon syndication

Syndication of editorial cartoons has an important impact on the form, since cartoons about local issues or politicians are not of interest to the national market. Therefore, an artist who contracts with a syndicate will either be one who already focuses their work on national and global issues, or will shift focus accordingly.

History

An early version of syndication was practiced in the ''

Journal of Occurrences The ''Journal of Occurrences'', also known as ''Journal of the Times'' and ''Journal of Transactions in Boston'', was a series of newspaper articles published from 1768 to 1769 in the ''New York Journal and Packet'' and other newspapers, chronicling ...

'', a series of newspaper articles published by an anonymous group of "patriots" in 1768–1769 in the ''New York Journal and Packet'' and other newspapers, chronicling the occupation of Boston by the British Army. According to historian Elmo Scott Watson, true print syndication began in 1841 with a two-page supplement produced by '' New York Sun'' publisher Moses Yale Beach and sold to a score of newspapers in the U.S. northeast.Watson, Elmo Scott. "CHAPTER VIII: Recent Developments in Syndicate History 1921-1935," ''History of Newspaper Syndicates''
Archived at ''Stripper's Guide''
By the end of the Civil War, three syndicates were in operation, selling news items and short fiction pieces. By 1881,

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

correspondent Henry Villard was self-syndicating material to the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'', the '' Cincinnati Commercial'', and the '' New York Herald''. A few years later, the '' New York Suns Charles A. Dana formed a syndicate to sell the short stories of

Bret Harte Bret Harte (; born Francis Brett Hart; August 25, 1836 – May 5, 1902) was an American short story writer and poet best remembered for short fiction featuring miners, gamblers, and other romantic figures of the California Gold Rush. In a caree ...

and

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

. The first full-fledged American newspaper syndicate was the McClure Newspaper Syndicate, launched in 1884 by publisher

S. S. McClure Samuel Sidney McClure (February 17, 1857 – March 21, 1949) was an Irish-American publisher who became known as a key figure in investigative, or muckraking, journalism. He co-founded and ran ''McClure's Magazine'' from 1893 to 1911, which ran n ...

. It was the first successful company of its kind, turning the marketing of columns, book serials (by the likes of

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

and Arthur Conan Doyle), and eventually

s, into a large industry.''Time'', 1977.
/ref> Syndication properly took off in 1896 when the competitors the ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under pub ...

'' and the ''

New York Journal :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...

'' began producing Sunday comic pages. The daily comic strip came into practice in 1907, revolutionizing and expanding the syndication business. Syndicates began providing client newspaper with proof sheets of black-and-white line art for the reproduction of strips."Scott, Randy. "The King Features Proof Sheet Collection". ''Insight''. Fall 2009. p. 3. By 1984, 300 syndicates were distributing 10,000 features with combined sales of $100 million a year. With the 1960s advent of the underground press, associations like the Underground Press Syndicate, and later the

Association of Alternative Newsmedia The Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN) is a trade association of alternative weekly newspapers in North America. It provides services to many generally liberal or progressive weekly newspapers across the United States and in Canada. AAN ...

, worked together to syndicate material — including weekly comic strips — for each other's publications.

Syndication services

Prominent contemporary syndication services include: * Andrews McMeel Syndication (U.S.) * Family Features Editorial Syndicate (U.S.) * Guardian News Service (U.K.) * Hearst Entertainment & Syndication (U.S.) * News UK (U.K.) *

The New York Times News Service This is a list of assets owned by the New York Times Company. Business units Media properties * ''The New York Times'' * ''The New York Times International Edition'' * ''The New York Times'' ''International Weekly'' * '' T: The New York Times S ...

(U.S.) * Project Syndicate (Czech Republic) *

Syndications Today Syndications Today is the content syndication division of the India Today Group, a media conglomerate in the Indian sub-continent, which manages and grants reprint and reuse rights of content produced in the form of news, articles, features, ...

(India) * Telegraph Media Group (U.S.) * Tribune Content Agency (U.S.) IFA-Amsterdam (International Feature Agency) provides news and lifestyle content to publications. Cagle Cartoons offers newspaper editorial cartoons and columns. 3DSyndication comprises syndication service from India, the India Today Group's

, and Times Syndication Service of India.

References

Notes

Sources consulted

*
Times Syndication Service
Content licensing and syndication wing of The Times Group.

External links

{{Commons category
3DSyndication: Syndication Service from IndiaCagle Cartoons, Inc.Family Features Editorial SyndicateGuardian News ServiceIFA-Amsterdam (International Feature Agency)News International SyndicationThe New York Times News ServiceNI SyndicationTimes Syndication Service of IndiaTribune Content AgencyUniversal Press Syndicate
Newspaper content de:Content-Syndication es:Redifusión#Redifusión de prensa