Nieman Journalism Lab

Mondo Times editors    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 12:41pm on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Zachary M. Seward wrote about the online strategy of the Associated Press in the article "AP’s Tom Curley on the “oversupply” of news and what he’s doing about it" on October 13, 2009:

"Tom Curley, president and chief executive of The Associated Press, was in China last week for a government-sponsored media summit, where he compared digital content to NCAA basketball and explained the AP’s plans to build revenue online. But Curley was far more revealing when he spoke without a prepared text on October 6 at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong. I wrote about the big news from that talk on Friday but can now share the audio and transcript.

For all the criticism of Curley and the AP, he had a few really smart observations about the economics of news. Regarding the AP’s competition, which ranges from free news sites to CNN’s new wire service, he was realistic:

"Our pricing has to be competitive. There are going to be more competitors. There are going to be fewer people who can afford us. This is a moment of tyranny in the marketplace. There are quality providers, and there are those who aren’t going to be able to sustain the revenues. We don’t expect to have the market share that we used to have."

Speaking broadly about the market for journalists and journalism, Curley was candid:

"The truth is, again, the market for news is growing. But the reality is — and none of us can create some fantasy picture here — there is an oversupply, at least in the short term, of us. And so that is creating some differences in the market, and I see these being resolved by innovation and creativity over time."

Oh, there were silly remarks, too, like his misuse of the word “crowdsourcing” and his flat declaration that “we’re all done with random search.” (If that sounds like an ad for Bing, consider it another sign of a looming partnership between Microsoft and the AP.) Others will be interested in his explanation of how the AP will change the licenses for online distribution of its content."

The full story:
http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/10/aps-tom-curley-on-the-oversupply-of-news-and-what-hes-doing-about-it/

Mondo Times editors    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 1:05am on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Google is developing a micropayment platform, Zachary M. Seward of the Nieman Journalism Lab reported on September 9, 2009:

"Google is developing a micropayment platform that will be “available to both Google and non-Google properties within the next year,” according to a document the company submitted to the Newspaper Association of America. The system, an extension of Google Checkout, would be a new and unexpected option for the news industry as it considers how to charge for content online.

The revelation comes in an eight-page response to the NAA’s request for paid-content proposals, which it extended to several major technology companies and startups. It’s surprising, given the newspaper industry’s tenuous relationship with Google, that the company was involved at all."

The full story:
http://www.niemanlab.org/2009/09/google-developing-a-micropayment-platform-and-pitching-newspapers-open-need-not-mean-free/