Comments on: Hey AP, Got a Betamax?

By: wingnut

wingnut — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:17:23 +0000

Seems to me the value of AP's content has already hit bottom, as far as print media is concerned. Why should newspapers pay to use stories that their subscribers heard on the radio yesterday, saw on TV last night, and read on the Internet already?

Not only that, but AP often picks up members' stories as part of their membership agreement, and publishes them on other free sources.

I know we all like to read all these news sources free, but if somebody doesn't pay up, the (mostly) credible news sources we now rely on will go out of business.

After you get through cheering, think long and hard about human nature, government corruption at every level, and the kind of nation we'll have when the watchdog dies.

By: JP

JP — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:39:24 +0000

I prefer Reuters anyways.

By: Marcel

Marcel — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:03:41 +0000

I will never use AP. I will instruct my bloggers to never use the AP.

By: dee

dee — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 01:22:50 +0000

I agree with Pat. Get on board AP!

By: Angel Djambazov

Angel Djambazov — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:43:41 +0000

As a former journalist I find Kennedy's concern about "out of context" quoting to be disingenuous. Traditional news organizations commonly slice and dice AP content to make it fit their needs. Whether it is cutting out whole sections of a story simply to fill a hole on a page or pulling a quote from one article to feature in another.

Nor is this simply a case of the continuing feud between bloggers and journalists as to who is providing "real" news. Journalists have always felt that blogger content is inferior. Even without the designation of being "news" bloggers like Arrington have collected a large readership and are often looked to as experts in their field.

It is the agility of bloggers that has Kennedy worried. Advertisers always follow the audience. Unlike more traditional forms of media bloggers can post and respond to events very quickly. This has expanded their audience and impacted the bottom line for news organizations such as AP. Thus Kennedy’s second concern about the value of AP’s content being diluted is well founded. For AP this move against bloggers is not just about the facts but about business.

By: Pat Grady

Pat Grady — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:45:48 +0000

AP sounds so old school. They should encourage people to link to them to give credit and the serps would pay them back many times over.

I’m in favor of protecting copyrights and all other kinds of intellectual property, doing so is fair and preserves the motivation to create and publish. But a news org has got to realize that news spreads – it’s in its essential nature – they need to leverage that, not stifle it.

By: Wayne Porter

Wayne Porter — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:08:52 +0000

And news spreads differently with social tools…well it is still word of mouth..the social tools "color" what we read and how we react.

It will take time, but stuff like Twitter or Jaiku, etc will change things.

Wayne