Jun 16 2008

No More AP Links

Published by at 7:02 am under All General Discussions

Sorry folks, but the AP is threatening bloggers who note their stories and try and send their readers to those same AP stories. So, with tons of other (and more reliable) sources out there I probably will not be using any AP crap (er, stories) in my posts for the foreseeable future.  You can see the bloggers taking similar action here.

14 responses so far

14 Responses to “No More AP Links”

  1. MerlinOS2 says:

    I tend to try when linking their stuff to use nothing more than what they release as a snippet to tease the story in their RSS feed.

    My assumption is that is what they consider releasable without compromising the story context.

    If it is enough to catch my eye in the reader to open it to read the rest that should be enough to point other commenters to the story also. 

  2. dave m says:

    Sounds like one of the LMSM making dying noises.
    There seems to be almost no reason to pay, anymore, for the output
    of any of these “news” organizations.

    Some may make a comparison to ipod downloads versus buying a
    record. There is a difference. The data that goes to make up a digital
    sound file, ready for download to an ipod or similar device, has been
    heavily data reduced. The data reduction, while clever, makes the
    resulting sound poor by comparison with the original. So download
    if you want to (legally) but understand it is a poor reproduction of the
    original.

    So is there a reason to buy the original output of the traditional press?
    There might be if those journalists had used their training and their
    financial backing to do what no blogger, in their pajamas, could hope to
    accomplish. If the LMSM had sent their journalists to all the far reaches
    of the world, with the training and the orders to actually tell exactly what
    not only they see is happening, but what they can prove is happening, then
    they would have a product.

    Early communist theory said “the end justifies the means”. And the
    LMSM bought into it, hook, line, and sinker. Their arrogance is so total
    that not only do they feel justified in snarking out any lie they feel
    is “justified”, their arrogance extends even farther – they believe none
    of us are smart enough to notice it.

    I am close to stopping buying any newspapers. Mostly I just buy them
    to have something to read while I eat my lunch. Even that is becoming
    increasingly a waste of money.

    The London Times, the Agence-France Press, UPI, etc. should be
    able to blaze a trail that would put blog sites, such as this one, in
    third place me-too land. Except, it is the other way around.

    If you want to know what is happening in the world, you have to ignore
    the traditional press. This is a staggering development.

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  5. WWS says:

    Dave, I agree with you completely, especially when you said “If you want to know what is happening in the world, you have to ignore the traditional press.” You’re right, that IS a staggering development. I never thought I would say this, but today a person who never reads a paper and pays no attention to the news is not informed, but at least is not maliciously misinformed about what is happening in the world. Reading the paper for anything other than strictly local news has become a harmful and debilitating action, and should be avoided at all costs.

    I hate to say this, since a free and independant press has long been a linchpin of our democracy, but we have to figure out how to go forward without that now. Hopefully the blogosphere will take the place of that, although I don’t allow myself to be quite so optimistic as some.

    One thing is certain – there will never be a unified source for information again. Those days are gone.

    Ironically the AP itself has been the organization most responsible for this change. Newspapers which used to hire their own writers to write the news more and more have switched to using the straight AP feed, which the AP encouraged with various financial incentives. This led newspapers to cut staff and to gradually lose the distinctive voices they once had. Furthermore, once the AP feeds became available on the net, there was no need to pay some local outfit to read the stories you could get online for free. (this current move by the AP is a lame, too little too late attempt to counter that trend)

    Combine that trend with the move of advertising to online venues, and you have the death of the American newspaper industry in a nutshell. There will be no turnaround – the point of no return for newspapers has already been reached and passed.

    Moves such as the one today are simply the last gasps of a corpse who doesn’t know he’s already dead.

  6. WWS says:

    Just saw that the AP is already backing off this stand. Apparently their web traffic drop off was so quick that they realized their advertising revenues were going to get hammered unless they relented quickly. What a surprise. (And they couldn’t see that coming? Are they run by complete morons? Well, obviously.)

    And here’s another story about the death of the newspapers:
    http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/1310ap_mcclatchy_restructuring.html

    “McClatchy Co. said Monday it will cut 10 percent of its workforce in a move to save $70 million a year as the newspaper publisher continues to struggle to attract advertising dollars.”

    10% here, 10% there, and pretty soon the last one out can turn out the lights. Hey McClatchy, how is this move going to help you attract advertising dollars? Because I don’t see the connection, myself.

  7. crosspatch says:

    http://www.upi.com worked the last time I looked 😉

  8. RobinSolana says:

    AP is lost inside the Liberal Bubble and cannot get out. Facts or the truth are not important only the consistent politically correct story line. How dull.

    I have stopped the paper and am letting the MSM magazine supscriptions run out. There are other sources of information and they do not damage you intellectually.

    Time to move on.

  9. BarbaraS says:

    I quit taking the newspaper and all political magazines years ago. I have even stopped taking the women’s magazines because they are so liberal. I don’t care to be brain washed, than you very much. In fact, when I get the AARP magazine it immediately goes in the trash. They are uber liberal also. What has happened? Have the liberals taken over all communication except the blogs? Very scary. I fear that before many yuears go by this country will be socialistand if Obama wins it will be sooner rather than later. Hopefully, I won’t be around to see it.

  10. ivehadit says:

    Barbara, I am with you. And as for the local news, that is not even safe in today’s papers. Liberals are the editors and in my home town, you won’t believe the agenda that is shamelessly put forth.

    Barbara, here is a mag you may like: http://www.agas-digital.com.

  11. lurker9876 says:

    So what happens when the Democratic Congress tries to re-enact the Fairness Doctrine and start shutting down Rush, Hannity, Hugh Hewitt, and many other conservative bloggers?

  12. Cobalt Shiva says:

    So what happens when the Democratic Congress tries to re-enact the Fairness Doctrine and start shutting down Rush, Hannity, Hugh Hewitt, and many other conservative bloggers?

    Bloggers go (virtually) expat. Short of unplugging the US from the rest of the world (which ain’t going to happen), the Fairness Doctrine is utterly unenforceable.

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