Chicago Tribune Tries An Experiment: Life Without The AP

from the who-needs-it? dept

Tue, Nov 3rd 2009 7:31am — Mike Masnick

Via Jeff Sonderman we find out that the Tribune Company wants to experiment next week and see how far it can get without content from the Associated Press. Last year, we noted that various newspapers were beginning to drop their AP membership as they were concerned about a new pricing structure, as well as the fact that the AP seemed unable to keep up with the modern world, and seemed increasingly less relevant. Worst of all, some of its moves actually appeared to position the non-profit organization as a competitor to its own member newspapers.

The Tribune was one of the larger publishers to indicate that it was sick of the AP, giving the organization two years notice (as required) that it didn't plan to renew its contract at the end of October, 2010. For this experiment, the Tribune wants to see how far it can get without AP material (though it will use it if there's nothing else). Still, the newspaper giant notes that it has plenty of other wire options: "Reuters, the Washington Post, New York Times, Agence France Presse, Cable News Network, Global Post, Bloomberg and McClatchy newspapers." Some of those are "new," but should make it clear to the AP that it doesn't quite have the monopoly it seems to think it has.

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Filed Under: newspapers, wire stories
Companies: associated press, tribune company

13 Comments

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Marcus Carab (profile), 3 Nov 2009 @ 7:50am

Goodbye AP
I believe it may be too late for this particular dinosaur.
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- Hephaestus (profile), 3 Nov 2009 @ 8:10am
  
  Re: Goodbye AP
  Its to late for all the middle men.
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  - Brooks (profile), 3 Nov 2009 @ 8:36am
    
    Re: Re: Goodbye AP
    Hey, done right, the AP is a wholesale aggregator. There's tons of value there, and a well run company will always be able to make money in that space ("always" in internet time, meaning "at least five years").
    
    The AP's problem is its foray into retail and its tendency to try to extract more profit than its market will bear.
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    - Marcus Carab (profile), 3 Nov 2009 @ 10:08am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Goodbye AP
      Exactly. News wires aren't dead, but the AP turned its nose up at just about every single chance it had to modernize and make its service competitive in the digital age.
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Hephaestus (profile), 3 Nov 2009 @ 8:09am

A simple solution
A simple solution to the AP is to put together a computer network with a replicated dataset of news Video, audio, and written. The software is already written and available on sourceforge.net as individual apps and servers projects.

The idea is for a few news outlets to get together with up with a free (or lowcost) alternative to the AP.
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Anonymous Coward, 3 Nov 2009 @ 8:16am

It's trading one devil for another collection of devils.
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interval, 3 Nov 2009 @ 9:03am

@AC: "It's trading one devil for another collection of devils."

I disagree, I don't think the other aggregators are as stupidly greedy AND behind the times as the others.
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David (profile), 3 Nov 2009 @ 9:21am

I'm curious...
...Why do they have to give 2 years notice? I mean any contract that requires that would give me pause. I mean: "I no longer see value in what you do for me, so I agree to pay you for 2 more years"

I just don't get it.
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- MattP, 4 Nov 2009 @ 8:57am
  
  Re: I'm curious...
  Yet, if they were the only 'real' game in town when you originally signed up you didn't have a choice.
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Matt, 3 Nov 2009 @ 11:12am

AP?
Why use AP? Doesn't that just make your content the same as every other paper that uses AP, as well as tons of internet news sites? Original content has a lot more value than redistributed boilerplate stories.
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- Marcus Carab (profile), 3 Nov 2009 @ 12:01pm
  
  Re: AP?
  Well, it used to be that unless those boilerplate stories were redistributed in your local paper, you'd never see them. The AP is just having a really tough time accepting that that's no longer the case.
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Bill Dodder, 3 Nov 2009 @ 12:02pm

AP is bad
I've been saying for ages that the AP is bad bad bad. Services like AHN and Global Post are already providing services that compete with AP at much higher efficiency rates and lower monthly rates. They are modern and well run small services that do a great job.

The thing with AP is that it became directly competitive to its members (a parasite of the worst type).

I urge more managing editors to pull out of that organization.
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minijedimaster (profile), 3 Nov 2009 @ 12:45pm

A few well placed blog stories about how the AP hates islam will also "take care of" the AP problem.
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