Online Blogintegrity

The Dissociated Press

 

From Thers at Whiskeyfire:

 

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June 16, 2008

She Wants Me to Come, But I'm Never Going There

Allow me to quote a piece by the AP in its entirety:

Article:	AP NewsAlert	Need Assistance? Click "Chat Now" to chat with a Live Operator.                                           Chat Now No Thanks!
Copyright:	2008 Associated Press
Publication:	Associated Press

Excerpt for Web Use License parts of this article for republishing on your website or intranet. Pricing based on the number of words excerpted.

Excerpts are priced by the word.

words Fees 5-25 $ 12.50 26-50 $ 17.50 51-100 $ 25.00 101-250 $ 50.00 251 and up $ 100.00 words Fees 5-25 $ 7.50 26-50 $ 12.00 51-100 $ 25.00 101-250 $ 50.00 251 and up $ 75.00 To qualify for educational pricing you must be a teacher, administrator or student at an accredited educational institution and certify that you will use this article solely for educational purposes. words Fees 5-25 $ 7.50 26-50 $ 12.00 51-100 $ 25.00 101-250 $ 50.00 251 and up $ 75.00 To qualify for non-profit pricing you must represent a government-qualified non-profit organization and certify that you will use this article solely for non-profit purposes.

This applies to blog comments as well.

The official Whiskey Fire position on paying $12.50 for five words is "bite me."

What pisses me off the most about this is that it gives Jeff Jarvis a plausible excuse to wage Nerd Jihad:

Remember, AP, you declared war on the bloggers. Remember that.

Oh, brother. Blog triumphalism gives me hives. Thanks a lot, AP for making me side with Jeff Jarvis. This, I do not forgive. Feh.

I'm claiming fair use for the thing above, by the way. But I will probably be sued regardless. Admire me for my Heroism and so forth.

June 16, 2008 in Weblogs | Permalink

 

This was a dumb move on the AP's part.

Not only is this policy unenforceable- the bloggers can take that story posted above and repeat it 500,000 times- the AP doesn't really have any other good options to sustain this policy.

So maybe they try to make examples of a few offenders, and rack up some big, fat, punitive awards. This technique worked so well when applied to illegal music-downloading that the problem is now virtually nonexistant and the recording companies look like King Arthur and his roundtable besides.

Or, maybe they go the New York Times route and put all their stories behind a subscription wall.
Oh, wait, that didn't work either...

As Jane Hamsher reminds us, even if successful at carrying out its policy, the AP will still end up hurting itself. The online business model thrives on links, and the AP is cutting itself off from that model, which means that online publications and high-traffic bloggers will just stop using the AP, or linking to its stories from other online sites.  Less links, less hits, less money.

Por supuesto, Jane puts it more succinctly:

Why pay for a newswire that's going to sue people for linking to you?

I am in accord with Thers on the unsavory nature of blog-triumphalism, but I think that it is not blog-triumphalism to state that the AP screwed the pooch on this one, and that, when it comes to brand stewardship, if you're going to shoot yourself in the foot, don't stick it your mouth first.

Adding:Blogueros should feel encouraged to post, or link to, the AP story on their website as well, even if they have decided that it's the final AP story they ever hotlink.

Allow me to quote a piece by the AP in its entirety:

Article:	AP NewsAlert	Need Assistance? Click "Chat Now" to chat with a Live Operator.                                           Chat Now No Thanks!
Copyright:	2008 Associated Press
Publication:	Associated Press

Excerpt for Web Use License parts of this article for republishing on your website or intranet. Pricing based on the number of words excerpted.

Excerpts are priced by the word.

words Fees 5-25 $ 12.50 26-50 $ 17.50 51-100 $ 25.00 101-250 $ 50.00 251 and up $ 100.00 words Fees 5-25 $ 7.50 26-50 $ 12.00 51-100 $ 25.00 101-250 $ 50.00 251 and up $ 75.00 To qualify for educational pricing you must be a teacher, administrator or student at an accredited educational institution and certify that you will use this article solely for educational purposes. words Fees 5-25 $ 7.50 26-50 $ 12.00 51-100 $ 25.00 101-250 $ 50.00 251 and up $ 75.00 To qualify for non-profit pricing you must represent a government-qualified non-profit organization and certify that you will use this article solely for non-profit purposes.

This applies to blog comments as well.

The official Whiskey Fire position on paying $12.50 for five words is "bite me."

What pisses me off the most about this is that it gives Jeff Jarvis a plausible excuse to wage Nerd Jihad:

Remember, AP, you declared war on the bloggers. Remember that.

Oh, brother. Blog triumphalism gives me hives. Thanks a lot, AP for making me side with Jeff Jarvis. This, I do not forgive. Feh.

I'm claiming fair use for the thing above, by the way. But I will probably be sued regardless. Admire me for my Heroism and so forth.

She Wants Me to Come, But I'm Never Going There

Allow me to quote a piece by the AP in its entirety:

Article:	AP NewsAlert	Need Assistance? Click "Chat Now" to chat with a Live Operator.                                           Chat Now No Thanks!
Copyright:	2008 Associated Press
Publication:	Associated Press

Excerpt for Web Use License parts of this article for republishing on your website or intranet. Pricing based on the number of words excerpted.

Excerpts are priced by the word.

words Fees 5-25 $ 12.50 26-50 $ 17.50 51-100 $ 25.00 101-250 $ 50.00 251 and up $ 100.00 words Fees 5-25 $ 7.50 26-50 $ 12.00 51-100 $ 25.00 101-250 $ 50.00 251 and up $ 75.00 To qualify for educational pricing you must be a teacher, administrator or student at an accredited educational institution and certify that you will use this article solely for educational purposes. words Fees 5-25 $ 7.50 26-50 $ 12.00 51-100 $ 25.00 101-250 $ 50.00 251 and up $ 75.00 To qualify for non-profit pricing you must represent a government-qualified non-profit organization and certify that you will use this article solely for non-profit purposes.

This applies to blog comments as well.

The official Whiskey Fire position on paying $12.50 for five words is "bite me."

What pisses me off the most about this is that it gives Jeff Jarvis a plausible excuse to wage Nerd Jihad:

Remember, AP, you declared war on the bloggers. Remember that.

Oh, brother. Blog triumphalism gives me hives. Thanks a lot, AP for making me side with Jeff Jarvis. This, I do not forgive. Feh.

I'm claiming fair use for the thing above, by the way. But I will probably be sued regardless. Admire me for my Heroism and so forth.

Comments

[Thers]

Thanks!

I hope we get the same cell with Rip & Spocko...