Tribune Company The Latest (And Biggest) In A Growing List To Drop Associated Press

from the ouch dept

Fri, Oct 17th 2008 2:05pm — Mike Masnick

While the Associated Press was wasting time stupidly threatening to sue bloggers for pointing people to AP stories without paying, perhaps the folks there should have been paying a bit more attention to actually making sure its business model worked. As we've been noting, over the past few years, its strategy has put it in pretty much direct competition with its members (the AP is made up of numerous member newspapers).

That's creating problems, as we've seen a variety of newspapers have recently been refusing to renew their contracts, notifying the AP that they don't want to participate anymore. There have been some notable names, from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, but none of the "major" newspaper companies had bailed... until now. The Tribune Company, publishers of the Chicago Tribune, the LA Times, the Baltimore Sun and others has surprised many by telling the AP it's not renewing. That could be the big domino, as many other newspapers may follow suit. The article here notes even that some newspapers have been experimenting with picking days when they try to publish without a single AP story to see how it goes.

What's amazing is that, so far, it doesn't seem like the Associated Press recognizes that there's a real problem. They simply seem to shrug off each defection. At some point, the AP needs to realize that it needs to change, rather drastically, if it's going to survive. While the AP isn't like an ordinary company -- it's a non-profit cooperative made up of member news organizations -- that doesn't mean it doesn't need to have a working business model. Without that, and with big members dropping like flies, it won't be able to exist at all.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: associated press, customers
Companies: associated press, tribune company

9 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Erv Server, 17 Oct 2008 @ 2:37pm

You can be assured if Obama is elected he will give a bailout check to Associated obama Press
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Petréa Mitchell, 17 Oct 2008 @ 3:06pm

The current one seems to work
Further down, the story says newspapers are starting to opt out of the AP not because the existing model is broken, but becasue a change in the model is coming up.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Kevin Combs, 17 Oct 2008 @ 4:48pm

Interesting that this is happening as the NY times has begun publishing their own API for article content. Advertisers are starting to have a hard time finding content that is worth having their message nearby.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Howard_NYC, 17 Oct 2008 @ 5:17pm

roots of AP...
the orginating motive of AP and other such wire services was a lack of 'feet on the ground' in every locality... between zillions of pocket cameras, and an endless stream of eager bloggers that is no longer the case... never mind that thing about aggragating content... anybody with a T1 and a server can do that...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Joseph Durnal, 17 Oct 2008 @ 8:15pm

Not a fan of AP
I think that the Internet has made the AP obsolete. I bounce around to a few different news web sites, a couple of papers and a couple of TV networks and what do I see, the same story 4 or 5 times, with the exact same coverage. Somehow I keep going back, and falling for the same old stuff, hoping to read about something from a different point of view, but that is rare.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
ken from illinois, 18 Oct 2008 @ 8:34am

The AP is intelligence challenged
Most of the AP filler articles that I noticed in the Chicago Tribune were written by a moron. If the articles had any component of complexity, e.g., science, technology, the articles were clearly not adequately researched and were written in the style of a 7th grader. If the articles were a simple news fact, the article typically challenged your reading skills as it did not unfold the information clearly. Then, of course, if the article was political in nature, the presentation was clearly biased. The AP has a clear business vision: "we can be dumber than Larry or Larry's brother Larry".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
George Blake, 18 Oct 2008 @ 2:24pm

Re: roots of AP...
If it's "feet on the ground" that's important, watch the growth of ourtown.com -- aleady 1000 local editors and licencing more daily. Local editor writing about events in their ZIP codes and home towns --and making money in the process selling local ads and keepign 100% of the proceeds. Local editors also share in national advertising according to the traffic they build on their sites.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Steve R. (profile), 20 Oct 2008 @ 7:00am

New York Times Article
Some Papers in Financial Trouble Are Leaving the A.P. to Cut Costs
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Danny (profile), 20 Oct 2008 @ 10:03am

AP has dug itself into a hole
The Tribune's announcement will likely be a tipping point, bringing other papers along and forcing the AP to react in some way (likely by changing the financial model.)

Given the two year notice required, it would be stupid for any paper NOT to file notice they are leaving in two years. The AP will almost certainly take papers back - and notice provides a two year window for negotiation while preparing for alternative news sources.
[ link to this | view in thread ]