Augusta's Morris Communications Co. LLC on Thursday said it has joined a group of newspaper publishers working with Yahoo to bring local news and advertising content to the Internet powerhouse's 130 million viewers nationwide.

Morris Communications, whose publishing division owns The Augusta Chronicle and 26 other daily newspapers, is the ninth member of the consortium that includes companies such as Cox Newspapers Inc., Hearst Communications Inc. and Media General Inc.

"We will be reaching a huge audience that extends way beyond our current newspaper Web sites," Morris Communications President William S. Morris IV said in a statement.

The partnership initially will allow the consortium's 215 newspapers to sell help-wanted advertising online through Yahoo's HotJobs service, one of the top three online employment search sites.

"We can take our local employers' ads for filling jobs and get them in front of a larger audience than we currently can," said Michael Romaner, the president of Morris Communication's Morris DigitalWorks. "We will benefit very deeply in that regard."

Mr. Romaner said the HotJobs component of the partnership would be the first to be worked out, most likely by the end of the year.

The cooperation eventually would extend into news content, providing Yahoo users with market-specific news generated by their local newspaper.

The deal also would allow Yahoo to offer its sponsored Web searches and toolbar downloads through individual newspaper sites.

"We believe the local segment is largely untapped and provides significant opportunities to expand audience engagement and subsequently grow local advertising," Terry Semel, the chairman and chief executive officer of Yahoo Inc., said in a statement issued when the consortium partnership was announced in November.

The Morris-affiliated group is different from one being backed by Gannett Co., Tribune Co. and McClatchy Co., which seeks to target national advertisers.

Gannett, Tribune and McClatchy already cooperate in several other areas, including an online and print help-wanted advertising venture called CareerBuilder, which Morris Communications' newspapers currently use to power their online job search centers.

Mr. Romaner said at some point the company would transition away from CareerBuilder, but a timeline has not been established.

Newspapers in this consortium reach 38 states, and include major market dailies such as the San Francisco Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Houston Chronicle, Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, San Jose Mercury-News, The New Haven Register and the Commercial Appeal (Memphis).

Privately held Morris Communications has media holdings that include newspapers, visitor guide publications, outdoor advertising, magazine publishing, radio broadcasting, book publishing and distribution and online services.

Its Morris Publishing Group LLC subsidiary publishes daily and nondaily newspapers, city magazines and free community publications in the Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and Alaska.