CNN To Dump AP As It Tries To Compete With The AP As A Wire Service

from the good-for-cnn dept

Tue, Jun 8th 2010 2:55am — Mike Masnick

Over the past few years, we've been watching (in some bit of horror) as the Associated Press makes misstep after misstep in trying to protect its old model of doing business. Even as a non-profit, member association, the AP seems to have trouble making forward-thinking decisions. It kicked off with the AP's complaints a few years ago that Google News was somehow sending too much traffic to its members' websites, leading to a deal between the AP and Google that took traffic away those member paper websites. If I were at a member newspaper, I'd be furious -- and many newspapers were, in fact, quite upset by this. Not long afterwards, stories started popping up about newspapers ditching the AP. Then, there's been the AP's bizarre and self-defeating hatred for bloggers, combined with a laughable plan to DRM the news (an idea that's gone absolutely nowhwere).

A year ago, we suggested that other wire services really had a chance to step up, embrace what technology allows, and take away the AP's place in the news ecosystem. Reuters has done some smart things, and CNN started to make it clear that it wanted to take on the AP in the wire service business. But, it hasn't really done all that much on that front. However, with news coming out that CNN may be among those news organizations getting ready to ditch its AP relationship, perhaps it's a sign that it's finally gearing up to really try to take on the AP in the wire business.

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: wire service
Companies: ap, cnn

17 Comments

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

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Yogi, 8 Jun 2010 @ 3:27am

Exciting News!
That means that soon we'll have three biased and unreliable wire services.

Can you tell how excited I am?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- John Doe, 8 Jun 2010 @ 4:03am
  
  Re: Exciting News!
  My thoughts exactly.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Liz, 8 Jun 2010 @ 4:37am
  
  Re: Exciting News!
  Yes, but is it the same bias all around? Perhaps we'll be able to get at the real story somewhere in the middle.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - John Doe, 8 Jun 2010 @ 5:14am
    
    Re: Re: Exciting News!
    There is no middle with these news sources, they are all liberal. You have to watch Fox News to get the other side, then start looking in the middle.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - ac, 8 Jun 2010 @ 8:44am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Exciting News!
      I'd watch Fox News but every time I flip to the channel, it's on one of those editorial shows that panders to the fringe groups. Perhaps if they dumped a few of those in favor of reporting more of the news, I could watch. Same goes for Olberman and Maddow like lefty shows.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Yogi, 8 Jun 2010 @ 6:18am
    
    Re: Re: Exciting News!
    After CNN admitted they did not report on Sadaam Hussein's atrocities so that he would not kick the network out of the country, what exactly do you expect from that network or their colleagues?
    
    As long as reporting from a dictatorship is treated exactly the same as reporting from a democracy - I'm going to have a problem with these networks, at least as far as political reporting is concerned.
    
    I still trust them to get last night's baseball scores right, but just barely...
    
    Actually, i don't even mind the bias so much - just be open about it. If you are hiring the relatives of a dictator to "cover" the dictatorship for you - then your readers or viewers should know about it.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Palmyra (profile), 8 Jun 2010 @ 5:47am

FOX TROLLS
are on the march. Dr. Josef Goebbels would be proud of you.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 8 Jun 2010 @ 10:26am
  
  Re: FOX TROLLS
  This is clearly the most ignorant statement I've read this month. There is no better way to display your broadly ranging ignorance of both political AND internet history than invoking Godwin's Law... and quite on accident I imagine.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - harbingerofdoom (profile), 8 Jun 2010 @ 1:22pm
    
    Re: Re: FOX TROLLS
    i doubt it was accidental. more and more people on both sides of the libs vs. cons argument are godwinning the opposite side. it just re-enforces my belief that people dont care about whats right and wrong.... people only care about trying to prove they are correct (even when they arent).
    
    /besides...ya know who else godwinned political arguments...
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
cexcells (profile), 8 Jun 2010 @ 6:42am

Dear Rupert
I see your right-wing propaganda machine is breaking up/down. No news travels faster than good news.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- interval (profile), 8 Jun 2010 @ 8:14am
  
  Re: Dear Rupert
  I'll see your right-wing propaganda and raise you two CNN's and a leftist Ted Turner.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Greg G, 8 Jun 2010 @ 9:01am

Idiots
Palmyra and cexcells have spoken, and proven once again it's better to remain quiet and only be thought of as an idiot, than to speak and remove all doubt.

right wing propaganda machine? You can't be talking about the AP. They're flaming libs. Dropping the AP is the best first move anyone can make.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pixelation, 8 Jun 2010 @ 11:42am

Hot news
Let the "hot news" lawsuits begin!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- harbingerofdoom (profile), 8 Jun 2010 @ 1:24pm
  
  Re: Hot news
  sadly, this seems like it will be the only real outcome of any of this.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Pixelation, 8 Jun 2010 @ 2:07pm
    
    Re: Re: Hot news
    "They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind"
    
    I can't wait for the AP to reap the whirlwind on hot news.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hephaestus (profile), 9 Jun 2010 @ 8:23am

How to bitch slap CMM
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hephaestus (profile), 9 Jun 2010 @ 8:25am

How to bitch slap CNN and the AP
Why doesnt someone come up with a set of open internet standards for this. It would allow anyone to participate and anyone to write software and create servers for news. It would take out both CNN and the AP.

Just a little thinking out sidde the box...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]