Delusions of grandeur
AP, Associated Press, thinks that it owns the news and can control it's distribution over the Internet. AP has published it's AP FAQ. I'm reprinting it here, because they will change it when they find out that it will not work:
1. Why is this newsworthy?
The action by the AP Board was an important acknowledgment by the news cooperative that it needs to adjust its practices and work together to keep original journalism economically viable by promoting licensed used of original news content and increasing direct consumer engagement with the sources of that news.
2. What do AP and the news industry want to accomplish?
Our mission is two-fold: enable consumers to find news from authoritative and original sources in the most flexible ways and to ensure that those who gather, report and publish the news are properly reimbursed for it.
3. Why is this important?
The organized news media perform a critical function in a free society. The news media protect the public’s right to know by enforcing freedom of information laws, sending reporters into war-torn regions and covering everything from natural disasters, local legislators and more to file unbiased reports. Pressing for government accountability and covering global conflicts have significant costs — both financial and human. The Associated Press alone spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year in its newsgathering operation, covering everything from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to every statehouse in the United States. AP journalists must be present whenever and wherever news occurs, at great cost to AP, and sometimes at great risk to themselves. The same is true of every news organization. Safeguarding investments to gather and share news is critical to a democratic society.
4. What does the initiative involve?
Our goal is to improve consumers’ ability to find the most authoritative news coverage while also ensuring a fair return to those who invest in the original reporting of news. The initiative will involve a variety of steps, including something we refer to as search pages, or a "news guide” that would help point consumers to sources of original reporting. It also will involve creation of rights-based services to help publishers and those who originate news to facilitate new distribution and revenue models.
5. What is meant by "rights-based services"?
AP already processes text content from more than 1,100 news providers as part of its "Digital Cooperative” program. This effort assigns tags to the content that make it easier to search and sort news stories by category, location and individuals named, among other things. The rights-based service will enable new licensing models for news distribution and consumption. We believe this will encourage greater innovation in how authoritative news is delivered to the public.
6. What do you mean by "search pages”?
When consumers look for news today on search engines, they often get directed in a random fashion to a wide variety of news sources, blogs and other Web pages. Searches on breaking news topics such as floods, earthquakes and shootings don’t dependably produce results from authoritative local news sources, and often not even to those media responsible for producing the news stories. AP will work with its member newspapers, broadcasters and other media to create a set of search-optimized pages that will guide users to the most timely, authoritative coverage related to their searches
7. Is AP going to put up a "toll booth” around its content?
No. The AP initiative is about opening up clear routes to authoritative coverage. Our first priority is to engage the audience with original reporting from trusted sources. We expect online revenue models online to evolve, with some content supported by advertising and premium content priced for subscription or a la carte purchase by users.
8. Why not just harness the so-called "link economy” to attract the audience?
The world has benefited from the link construct of the Web. The AP initiative is not about prohibiting this. Instead, it is about making sure that consumers have access to authoritative news sources and that they can engage with news content in a more robust and timely way at the same time publishers and content owners receive a fair return on their investments in newsgathering and distribution.
9. What does AP mean when it says it will use both legal and legislative approaches to protect its content?
AP and the news industry are eager to work with everyone – including portals and aggregators — in a constructive way to make sure content owners are fairly compensated for their work. Like any other business, we may need to seek legal and legislative help to safeguard our business interests.
10. Is AP trying to crack down on what many feel is fair use of news snippets?
As a news gathering organization, AP understands the importance of fair use. Fair use is a complex analysis done on a case-by-case basis. It defies easy generalization. The AP initiative is not about this; it is about making it easier for consumer to access and engage with news content in more robust ways.
11. Is this aimed at Google? At bloggers?
No. It is not aimed at any one company or Web site. We are eager to work with everyone to achieve a fair solution.
What does this all means? Nothing!. AP claims that it's not trying to kill off links and is not going after the bloggers. Instead, AP wants to define how news will work on the web. AP will negotiate, i.e.: use its lawyers. AP can use its lawyers against Google, Yahoo...1 but AP can't take on millions of bloggers, AP does not have the resources to come after me and millions of others. I decide what I do on my website foto-biz.com. I alone decide what I will do and not AP, just like I decided to quote their FAQ and to comment on it.
Some news distributors are doing well, very well indeed. Bloomberg publishes financial information and charges a single monthly fee for information that is available for free on the web! They publish financial information from bond yields to Securities & Exchange Commission filings to CEO biographies to analysts' recommendations. The major difference between Bloomberg and all the other free investors sites, such as Yahoo finance, is the timeliness and the presentation of the information. Web sites offering free financial data were supposed to lead to Bloomberg's demise. Now, Bloomberg's main competition is Thompson-Reuter. As of January 2009, Bloomberg "rules" the US, but has a third of the international market share for financial data while Thompson-Reuter has another third of the international market share for financial data. Thomson Reuters captured market share with flexible pricing while Bloomberg, until now, charges a fixed monthly fee. AP should learn from Bloomberg!
1 They also have an army of lawyers ↑
Tags: Rants
AP, Associated Press, thinks that it owns the news and can control it's distribution over the Internet. AP has published it's AP FAQ. I'm reprinting it here, because they will change it when they find out that it will not work:
1. Why is this newsworthy? The action by the AP Board was an important acknowledgment by the news cooperative that it needs to adjust its practices and work together to keep original journalism economically viable by promoting licensed used of original news content and increasing direct consumer engagement with the sources of that news.
2. What do AP and the news industry want to accomplish? Our mission is two-fold: enable consumers to find news from authoritative and original sources in the most flexible ways and to ensure that those who gather, report and publish the news are properly reimbursed for it.
3. Why is this important? The organized news media perform a critical function in a free society. The news media protect the public’s right to know by enforcing freedom of information laws, sending reporters into war-torn regions and covering everything from natural disasters, local legislators and more to file unbiased reports. Pressing for government accountability and covering global conflicts have significant costs — both financial and human. The Associated Press alone spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year in its newsgathering operation, covering everything from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to every statehouse in the United States. AP journalists must be present whenever and wherever news occurs, at great cost to AP, and sometimes at great risk to themselves. The same is true of every news organization. Safeguarding investments to gather and share news is critical to a democratic society.
4. What does the initiative involve? Our goal is to improve consumers’ ability to find the most authoritative news coverage while also ensuring a fair return to those who invest in the original reporting of news. The initiative will involve a variety of steps, including something we refer to as search pages, or a "news guide” that would help point consumers to sources of original reporting. It also will involve creation of rights-based services to help publishers and those who originate news to facilitate new distribution and revenue models.
5. What is meant by "rights-based services"? AP already processes text content from more than 1,100 news providers as part of its "Digital Cooperative” program. This effort assigns tags to the content that make it easier to search and sort news stories by category, location and individuals named, among other things. The rights-based service will enable new licensing models for news distribution and consumption. We believe this will encourage greater innovation in how authoritative news is delivered to the public.
6. What do you mean by "search pages”? When consumers look for news today on search engines, they often get directed in a random fashion to a wide variety of news sources, blogs and other Web pages. Searches on breaking news topics such as floods, earthquakes and shootings don’t dependably produce results from authoritative local news sources, and often not even to those media responsible for producing the news stories. AP will work with its member newspapers, broadcasters and other media to create a set of search-optimized pages that will guide users to the most timely, authoritative coverage related to their searches
7. Is AP going to put up a "toll booth” around its content? No. The AP initiative is about opening up clear routes to authoritative coverage. Our first priority is to engage the audience with original reporting from trusted sources. We expect online revenue models online to evolve, with some content supported by advertising and premium content priced for subscription or a la carte purchase by users.
8. Why not just harness the so-called "link economy” to attract the audience? The world has benefited from the link construct of the Web. The AP initiative is not about prohibiting this. Instead, it is about making sure that consumers have access to authoritative news sources and that they can engage with news content in a more robust and timely way at the same time publishers and content owners receive a fair return on their investments in newsgathering and distribution.
9. What does AP mean when it says it will use both legal and legislative approaches to protect its content? AP and the news industry are eager to work with everyone – including portals and aggregators — in a constructive way to make sure content owners are fairly compensated for their work. Like any other business, we may need to seek legal and legislative help to safeguard our business interests.
10. Is AP trying to crack down on what many feel is fair use of news snippets? As a news gathering organization, AP understands the importance of fair use. Fair use is a complex analysis done on a case-by-case basis. It defies easy generalization. The AP initiative is not about this; it is about making it easier for consumer to access and engage with news content in more robust ways.
11. Is this aimed at Google? At bloggers? No. It is not aimed at any one company or Web site. We are eager to work with everyone to achieve a fair solution.
What does this all means? Nothing!. AP claims that it's not trying to kill off links and is not going after the bloggers. Instead, AP wants to define how news will work on the web. AP will negotiate, i.e.: use its lawyers. AP can use its lawyers against Google, Yahoo...1 but AP can't take on millions of bloggers, AP does not have the resources to come after me and millions of others. I decide what I do on my website foto-biz.com. I alone decide what I will do and not AP, just like I decided to quote their FAQ and to comment on it.
Some news distributors are doing well, very well indeed. Bloomberg publishes financial information and charges a single monthly fee for information that is available for free on the web! They publish financial information from bond yields to Securities & Exchange Commission filings to CEO biographies to analysts' recommendations. The major difference between Bloomberg and all the other free investors sites, such as Yahoo finance, is the timeliness and the presentation of the information. Web sites offering free financial data were supposed to lead to Bloomberg's demise. Now, Bloomberg's main competition is Thompson-Reuter. As of January 2009, Bloomberg "rules" the US, but has a third of the international market share for financial data while Thompson-Reuter has another third of the international market share for financial data. Thomson Reuters captured market share with flexible pricing while Bloomberg, until now, charges a fixed monthly fee. AP should learn from Bloomberg!
1 They also have an army of lawyers ↑
Tags: Rants
