spokane: we want out -- now!

as gola said, the agate would be a bitch. if you're gonna do a baseball page, are you gonna wanna spend money on some dude reformatting box scores copied-and-pasted off mlb.com for two hours of manpower each night? because unless you design the macro to end all macros, that's what it will take.

 

Umm, Stats, Inc.
Well, that just took care of all your national agate.
Next question please.
Use supplemental wires like LA Times/Post, Scripps, Gannett or whatever news service that your company has.
That takes care of your national centerpieces, plus it gives you columns and features with a little news sprinkled in.
The hard part will be photos. Not so much national events — Reuters, Getty Images will take care of that —but when the local college hits the road and you aren't sending a photog. AP is about the only dog out there to get pictures on a tight deadline from a remote location.
But even then, with careful planning, you could hire a freelancer and just hope for the best.

 

Our publisher notified AP that we would drop coverage when our contract expires in two years. For now, it's a negotiating tactic (AP drops the price to keep the business) and/or a safe-guard if something happens (a state-based service between other papers and ourselves).

 

Stats inc is owned by AP. They still win.

 

Hope for the best. Well, I'm sure the readers will appreciate that we tried, anyway.

Sorry. I can't buy this. You're cutting services to your readers. Simple. And you're cutting services that the casual sports fan, the one who isn't obsessively checking box scores on Yahoo and has eight fantasy teams. Sure, the hardcore fan is already on Yahoo. But the casual fan who goes to bed at 10:15 and doesn't catch the last four innings of the World Series game is now getting screwed. So you've lost the hardcore fan and you're chasing off the casual fan.

But, um, there's still soccer moms, right?

 

I don't think you can just get agate from AP, though. Or can you?

If you can, why not just get the all-encompassing agate from AP and call it a day? Then have the rest of your stuff be local copy.

My paper actually doesn't use AP. It uses a wire service run by a nearby university with a well-known J-school. Actually, since I came on board, we used a lot less of it.

 

According to CJR's who owns what, they say that Fox owns Stats, Inc. So Rupert Murdoch wins.
Truth be told, if enough papers push hard enough, something will pop up in AP's place.
If you cut out $400,000 out of your budget. You could pay a shitload of stringers to cover national sporting events and give you the local flavor that AP lacks.

 

Paging laid off journalists with computer know-how.... Got a money maker for you.

 

You really think that's what that money is going to go toward? I'm not demeaning the idea, mind you. But there's no way that the average publisher, suddenly infused with an extra $400K, is going to sink that money right back into the product. We've seen far too much evidence to the contrary in recent times.

 

This whole AP thing fits with something I've long predicted will happen, but hate to see happen. Many, many papers will cease sending their own college and, in some cases, pro beat writers on the road and will rely on a stringer from the paper in that other city.

The other paper then runs the same game when their team goes on the road. Could work for photos, too, thus eliminating a huge role filled by AP.

And don't tell me about a reduction in quality, scoops missed, etc. Nobody in high command gives a shit anymore. By now, that's beyond obvious.

 

I hope those papers know how to get the daily AP superfecta . . .

1. The starting pitcher from each team.
2. Picture of player rounding second base in the background with pitcher who just gave up home run in the foreground.
3. Picture of player being forced at second base.

 

Good luck if something like 9-11 part 2 happens.

Outside of the sports realm, tossing AP is a huge mistake.