Krieger: Down to the Wire

Joe Posnanski's blog about the newspaper business is just awesome.

From Dave Krieger ...

http://futureofpapers.blogspot.com/2009/04/krieger-down-to-wire.html

 

If I'm a newspaper, I'd start ripping off stuff from The Web. Top Daily Weblinks, broken down by topic, steal stories that get a lot of hits from Drudge, Google or Yahoo.

 

Not sure his point there isn't full of holes.

Most AP content doesn't come from member newspapers; they've got their own writers and their own bureaus that produce original copy every day (that many member newspapers absolutely depend on.)

Yeah, I suppose they're able to afford all those writers by charging member newspapers for the service. But it's not right to say AP is "the biggest news aggregator there is," because AP, as a whole, produces more copy in an hour than most single newspapers do in a day.

Obviously, if you have enough writers where you can put out a solid paper without the wire, then you're free to cancel your subscription to AP. And maybe that's the right thing to do in some places.

But I also know that's going to kill a lot of mid-size newspapers that depend on AP to a) serve their readers, who are interested in more than just what a local staff can produce; and b) fill their pages every night.

 

I thought the AP commentary was right on the money.

At our shop, dumping AP has been discussed, even though we're a family owned chain with only a handful of other dailies. We have a bureau in our state capital that we use for state news already, and we have an arrangement with Roger Ebert (and/or the Sun Times) to run his movie reviews. We also use McClatchy-Tribune news service to augment AP, and their analysis pieces are much better for big national stories.

As others have noted, when a mid-sized daily like ours (40K circulation) stresses local and state news so heavily, and has so little space for world/nation news (most days just one page, mostly briefs), the value of AP diminishes quickly.

The key will be when some independent bureaus (or established ones, like maybe the Washington Post) provide decent national coverage, especially with photos. That's when more papers will quit AP.

And with sports? Again, if other outlets or freelancers would consistently provide photos, I think we could make it without AP. Chicago newspapers could do this for downstate and Midwestern papers -- pay a fee for whatever photos/stories you use on the Chicago pro teams. If you're stressing local prep, college and minor league sports, like we do, you won't need too much else.

Flush AP down the crapper!