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Online Journalism News

Associated Press unveils new pricing structure, offers news database as new 'wire' service

Posted: 26/06/08 By: Oliver Luft
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The Associated Press (AP) will later this week release details to US customers on new pricing structures and how they will be able to create customisable news feeds from the agency.

Starting later this year, member newspapers will gain access to a real-time database of breaking news in which they can search for locally relevant stories, photos, graphics and other content.

The announcement follows a week of heavy criticism of the AP for its attempts to prevent bloggers using its content.

According to AP, the Member Choice plan will do away with predefined ‘wires’ and instead increase the amount of content newspapers can draw from for local, national and niche or targeted publications and reduce costs.

Under the Member Choice plan AP says that will return up to $21 million to its US member newspapers. An estimated $13.6 million in assessment reductions will be distributed to memebers in 2009.

Newspaper members will be offered the chance to reduce costs further by joining AP’s Content Enrichment and Newsmap programmes that plans to tag content with descriptive information, making it easier for online consumers to search and find.

The Content Enrichment program is also expected to eventually provide a nationwide map of breaking news stories. Those papers involved in the project will be eligible for a share of an additional $7.5 million in rate reductions.

The traditional syndication service will also be adapted under Member Choice to offer two new services: AP Breaking News and AP Complete.

The core service, AP Breaking News, will, aptly, provide breaking news coverage while AP Complete will offer more analysis and enterprise options and access to parts of AP's Money & Markets financial package.

Increasingly crippled by the implosion of the newspaper industry in the US and what many see as the exorbitant pricing structure of the AP, several newspaper groups in the US have already started their own systems for directly sharing stories across titles with common interests or geographical locations.

It's likely that those same critics who have been calling for the AP to make fundamental shifts in the way it delivers the news of its member newspapers will see this latest development as a small step when a giant leap is needed.

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