In all, 176 newspapers, including The Salt Lake Tribune, are part of the massive online deal that eventually could weave local news content into the giant search engine company's global network.

Under a deal signed by Tribune owner MediaNews Group and six other publishing firms, participating papers at first will sell job-related classified ads through Yahoo's HotJobs and other co-branded sites.

"Yahoo is the most trafficked online site in the world," said Dean Singleton, MediaNews CEO and Tribune publisher. "Their platform and technology are outstanding. . . . Yahoo opens many doors we needed to have opened to us."

Singleton said he and other publishers had looked at forging partnerships with CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com, but they were deemed "simply career" sites, too limited in scope to serve long-term newspaper needs.

The pact is expected to eventually include other types of advertising, ranging from automobiles and other goods to real estate. Member papers also will have the option to publish their content within Yahoo's news and search results. Terms of the deal were not released.

"The opportunity for us on the content side is we will now be able to put our vast amounts of local news on the Yahoo platforms [and] get the largest distribution on the Internet," Singleton said in a joint teleconference with Yahoo and fellow publishers.

The MediaNews chief said the decision was no reflection on his company's own efforts to improve online content for its newspaper sites. Advertising revenues from those efforts are growing, and "we are very proud of the progress we've made thus far. [But] we think the world is changing very rapidly and we need a partner that is a leader in this business to get us there. We think going it alone will just take too long; we can get there much faster this way."

Benjamin Schachter, an Internet analyst with UBS Investment Research, told Bloomberg News that the Yahoo deal amounted to the newspaper industry saying, "We haven't done a great job moving online, and therefore, we can't do this on our own. Yahoo sees itself more as a media company than Google, so it makes sense they were able to do this."

In addition to Denver-based MediaNews, companies signing on with Yahoo are Cox Newspapers, Belo, Hearst, E.W. Scripps, Lee Enterprises and the Journal Register Co. The participants publish newspapers in 38 states.

Joining the Tribune in the deal are MediaNews sister daily The Denver Post and the rival Rocky Mountain News, along with such papers as the San Francisco Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, San Jose Mercury-News and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Newspaper Agency Corp., the joint entity that handles publishing and advertising for The Tribune and the Deseret Morning News, had been involved with Yahoo on a smaller scale for the past 18 months. Both papers were expected to benefit from the new, broader consortium beginning the first quarter of next year.

News Managing Editor Rick Hall said his paper is reviewing whether it will include its reportorial content when the Yahoo deal expands its links to participating newspapers.

Monday's announcement came two weeks after Yahoo rival Google unveiled a similar deal with 50 newspapers.

The Yahoo deal will allow advertisers who list jobs in any of the newspapers to post their jobs on the Web site's Yahoo HotJobs and other network locations. Advertisers will be able to use contextual, streaming and interactive media.

Yahoo CEO Terry Semel also sees the partnership as a prime opportunity for growth, critical for the company in its struggle with Google for the Internet's burgeoning e-commerce pie.

"We believe the local segment is largely untapped and provides significant opportunities to expand audience engagement and subsequently grow local advertising," Semel said.

The Bank of America predicts online advertising will nearly quadruple, from about $3.4 billion this year to $12.4 billion in 2010. The Kelsey Group estimates 35 percent of online searches are for local sites and information.

Writing for The Motley Fool, Rick Aristotle Munarriz said the pact was good for Yahoo and newspapers.

"Newspapers feel as if they are getting a technological push in the right direction, yet it's Yahoo that will be re-establishing its brand," he said. "From search to online road maps to local venue and event guides, Yahoo is going to become a trusted resource for those who rely on their local paper's Web sites."

Singleton said that for him and his fellow publishers, Monday's agreement is "a transformational deal for the newspaper industry" and "a model for newspaper revenue of the future."

The deal was a firm answer, too, to those skeptical about the ability of newspapers to shift into, and survive and thrive in cyberspace.

"Today's announcement very loudly shouts that we can, and we will," Singleton said.

bmims@sltrib.com

The Deal

* 176 newspapers owned by seven publishing companies, including Tribune owner MediaNews, form a consortium with Yahoo involving classified advertising.

* Job-related ads will be carried by Yahoo at first, later expanding to other classified categories.

* Closer ties between newspaper members and Yahoo search functionality, including Yahoo local mapping and event products through newspaper sites.

* Eventual use of the Yahoo network to distribute some newspapers' content through various search, news and related portals.