McClatchy Co. has joined a publishers' group that is negotiating a broad deal with Yahoo Inc., abandoning early plans for an online advertising partnership with Tribune Co. and Gannett Co., according to a report (via San Jose Business Journal).

The Yahoo deal could be announced by next week, and would create an online platform in which advertisers would be able to purchase space across a large group of newspaper sites. Tribune and Gannett would be left out of a growing group that is led by Hearst Corp. and MediaNews Group Inc. and includes 12 publishers with more than 250 newspapers.

Newspapers involved in the deal would have to use Yahoo search on their Web sites and revenue would be shared among partners, The Wall Street Journal said.

In March Yahoo announced a news deal with McClatchy that includes coverage from a range of international geographic regions provided by McClatchy. The feature, called "Trusted Voices," will provide in-depth perspectives and coverage from foreign correspondents based in regions that include Iraq, the Middle East, China and Latin America.