Reuters Invests in Blog Aggregator

Aiming to take advantage of the rise of blogging, news wire service Reuters said Tuesday that it was investing $7 million in Web aggregator Pluck in exchange for an undisclosed stake in the Austin, Texas based company.

Reuters will offer Pluck's BlogBurst service to its worldwide customers. The service provides an edited and moderated feed of approximately 2,800 blogs to supplement traditional journalism. Customers include the Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle in the US, and the Guardian newspaper in the UK.

BlogBurst is split into several categories, including news, politics, sports, health, fitness, technology, gadgets, travel, food and entertainment.

The investment in Pluck would allow it to expand into other regions, the company said, while Pluck's agreement with Reuters would give the company a much wider distribution platform than it had previously.

"This alliance with Reuters will deliver the most extensive network of blog content through the world's largest international news and financial information source," Pluck co-founder and CEO Dave Panos said in a statement. "The combined service will provide a turnkey solution for traditional media companies who want to deliver a richer and more personalized news and information experience to their audience."

Reuters has several other new media projects, including a partnership with international blog network Global Voices and a strategic investment in NewAssignment.net, which is bllled as "an experiment in open-source reporting."