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The AP Makes the Seattle Times Look Internet Savvy
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The root of that headline is conversations I've had with three separate - and very disparate - employees of the Times in the last several months. They were all pleasant talks, but their content, coupled with observing the paper attempt to develop an Internet presence in recent years, leaves this blogger with the rather strong impression that as an organization the Seattle Times has no earthly idea how to attract, cultivate, and retain new Internet readers.
That's a not so insignificant issue since the whole point of having an Internet presence in the era of steadily declining dead tree readership is to actually, you know, attract new readers.
Individually there might be some good things happening at the Times online, but as a general rule the transition to the Internet age is just not going well at Fairview Fannie. They simply don't get it as an institution.
All that said, the AP now has the Seattle Times crushed for lack of savvy on these vacuum-tubed Internets:
The AP's disharmony with bloggers may have only just begun, as the alternative it's now offering to being served with takedown notices involves paying an up-front sum for excerpting online articles -- as few as five words...The pricing scale for excerpting AP content begins at $12.50 for 5-25 words and goes as high as $100 for 251 words and up. Nonprofit organizations and educational institutions enjoy a discounted rate.
Charging bloggers for quoting from the AP? I'm torn between laughing hysterically and choking with spittle-filled rage at the stupidity of it all.
What's their game here, seriously? They're turning themselves into laughingstocks and blogosphere pariahs while drumming up business for Reuters and AFP. If they're trying to establish some sort of bright line beyond which excerpts can't go without triggering infringement, then why not just lay down some reasonable-ish policy -- two paragraphs maximum, say -- and wait for someone to violate it, then sue to see if a court will enforce it? (Suspected answer: Because the court probably won't and the AP knows it.) I'm mystified by their thought process.
Ditto. Bloggers already cast a skeptical eye on the "Old Media" for assorted reasons. Skepticism that is now going to turn into outright mockery at this rate.
Cross-posted at Sound Politics.
