AP’s manta to members has always been, “You own us,” but that has not been the case in years. AP’s board members are de facto self-selected and it is likely any voice of “reason” will come from those seats. As Mr. Curley toured state newspaper associations after his appointment, I told him that AP had effectively hijacked itself from its newspaper members. It has. Follow the money.
But it doesn’t matter. I assure you that AP has enormous competition everywhere but intra-state, and that will take care of itself. If my consistant, repeated emails to our state bureau chief are any indication, AP will fail because because it does not pay attention to those who encourage AP to excellence.
And I also assure you that AP rules are not why there are few competitive newspapers. The real barrier to new newspapers is that advertising that supports news is sucked out of the market by anyone and everyone else, including, significantly, the U.S. Postal Service, since 1979, to stave off failure from mismanagement.
If you want to discuss the failure of newspapers, look at the failure of journalism schools to understand what journalism is and ought to be — and that comes from the failure of schools to understand and teach what is of value to individuals.
