AP Suspends New Pricing Structure; Goes Back To The Drawing Board

News You Could Do Without

from the let's-revisit dept

It’s no secret that the Associated Press is in a bit of trouble. Since it changed its licensing structure and began competing directly with its own members, various newspapers both big and small have notified the organization that they plan to stop participating in the AP and no longer use its content (or submit content from their own papers). It took AP execs long enough, but they’ve now realized that something needs to change. They’ve suspended the new pricing structure and have said that they’ll review just about everything. That’s a good start, but considering the AP’s general attitude that it is the sole gatekeeper and gets to unilaterally set the rules, it’s going to need a pretty big attitude revamp first. The original Associated Press was designed to help newspapers by sharing resources. These days, its attitude seems more about helping the Associated Press.

In the meantime, if the AP doesn’t get its act together, it’s not like newspapers can’t figure out other options. For example, 32 newspapers are apparently teaming up to share football content via NewsGator. This is the sort of thing that the AP was supposed to be doing before it focused on being a gatekeeper instead of an enabler.

Filed Under: business models, newspapers
Companies: associated press, newsgator