To say E.W. Scripps execs Bob Benz, GM-print web operations for and Mike Phillips, editorial director-newspaper division, are unhappy with AP past and present would be an understatement. Sparked by the recent announcement that AP would begin charging members for re-use of online content, they’ve published a mainfesto through OJR. The two argue that the move “ignores powerful trends” — migrating content, web as operational core, “unpaid information is sweeping paid information off the media beach,” “audience — not content — is the news industry’s value proposition.”
Their solution: a start-up consortium, perhaps starting with a few of the smaller corporate groups and independent newspapers to invent the “new AP” as a true digital cooperative. Replace AP’s costly system with a p2p network. “Sharing would be governed by a karmic balance. The more you make available to the network, the more you can take out. An organization in karmic deficit would have to true up by paying a surcharge on the monthly fee.”
They’re offering to host the first meeting.
Is this a wake up call? The beginning of something new and potentially powerful? Will anyone follow up on their call to arms? One certainty: nothing will replace AP anytime soon. Inertia is a pretty powerful force.
Related: Interview: Jane Seagrave, Director Of New Media Markets, AP
– AP Will Charge Extra For Online Re-Use By Print, Broadcast Subs
– ONA ’04: AP’s Tom Curley Talks Fundamentals
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