Newspapers in Northeast Pursue a Content-Sharing 'Consortium' (E&P)

Newspapers in Northeast Pursue a Content-Sharing 'Consortium'

By Shawn Moynihan (E&P)

Published: October 27, 2008 11:50 AM ET
NEW YORK Top executives and editors from several major dailies in the Northeast, dissatisfied with The Associated Press, met recently to discuss the formation of a content-sharing agreement that in several cases would serve in place of their AP agreements, E&P has learned from top executives at three of the papers.

A "Northeast Consortium" of newspapers, which will include New York's Daily News and -- at least at the present time -- is said to include Newsday, The Buffalo News, the Times-Union of Albany, N.Y., and the Star Ledger of Newark, N.J., among others, is weeks away from announcing a content-sharing arrangement that will include both stories and photos.

The Daily News refused comment to E&P.

One executive who spoke on condition of anonymity and who attended the "summit" of New York-area papers, held in Manhattan within the past two weeks, cited cost savings, more timely exchange of content, and what that executive called "a new spirit of cooperation" as the primary motivations for such an undertaking. This source referred to the "Draconian terms" of the AP, which last Thursday responded to newspapers' concerns by announcing further rate cuts and restructuring.

During the New York "summit" meeting, there was a desire to make the proposed content-sharing arrangement happen "very quickly," the source added."It's fair to say that newspapers across America are upset with the treatment they get from the AP," the executive said. "Newspapers are now taking the view that they want to take events into their own hands. The truth of it is, there is a real desire to get better content, shared among people in non-competitive markets.

"The concept is similar to a content-sharing arrangement currently in place among seven top newspapers in Ohio, including The Plain Dealer of Cleveland and the Akron Beacon Journal, in which the papers trade stories and photographs. That agreement was forged out of editors' frustrations with AP's rates and news practices.

The full details of the arrangement are still being finalized. Another executive commented that each of the participating newspapers "needs to define what the value would be for us."Once the Northeast Consortium's content-sharing deal is finalized, one of the executives added, "Quite frankly, AP is eventually not going to be the only game in town. ... What's happening is, newspapers are going to reinvent the Associated Press."

Last Thursday, AP stated that by the middle of 2009, it will complete a review of its pricing and governance structure, re-examining all current policies and rules -- such as the two-year notice now required for leaving the news cooperative -- and will consider other potential changes, including the creation of different classes of membership and services.

The AP's Board of Directors voted last Thursday at its quarterly meeting in New York to provide all member newspapers complete access to all AP text content, at no extra cost. In addition, it voted to approve a moratorium on the rate increases that a minority of newspapers were expected to see in 2009 under the current AP pricing structure.Paul Colford, AP's director of media relations, released this statement to E&P this morning: "We are aware of content-sharing initiatives, including the sharing of stories among AP member newspapers using our innovative AP Exchange browser."

We also understand that a lot of newspapers are reexamining their strategies in this challenging economic climate. The AP has been working closely with its member newspapers to ensure that we continue to offer them an efficient and essential news service."

Last Thursday the AP Board of Directors took another step in that direction, agreeing to provide all member newspapers complete access to all AP text content, at no extra cost. This decision came as the board also reduced U.S. member newspapers’ assessments by an additional $9 million, on top of the previous reduction of $21 million."

A number of dailies (though a small minority) throughout the U.S. have announced their intentions to not renew their AP agreements, often citing insensitivity by the news conglomerate to their specific news needs. (McClatchy's CEO Gary Pruitt said last week, however, that his company would be sticking with AP.) Among them is The Hartford (Conn.) Courant, which also may become part of the Northeast content-sharing group.

One executive close to the Northeast consortium added that several Midwest newspapers learned of their plans and the Manhattan summit, and have expressed interest in joining.

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AP Backs Further Rate Deductions -- To Review Membership Structure (E&P)

By E&P Staff

Published: October 23, 2008 5:30 PM ET
NEW YORK For months, several top newspapers and chains have voice concerns about Associated Press rates and services, so going so far as giving two-year notice that may pull out of the news co-operative altogether. AP has continued a dialogue with these papers, and late this afternoon, with the U.S. economy sinking, it announced that it "will reduce U.S. newspaper member assessments by another $9 million next year and immediately begin a re-examination of the AP membership structure."

Staci D. Kramer of PaidContent.org quickly interviewed two top AP executives. AP Chief Revenue Officer Tom Brettingen says the newspaper protests did not "per se" lead to the changes, adding, "Putting in a cancellation notice to give the paper a chance to leave has always been a way to get our attention." The illuminating report with plenty of quotes is at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102303647.html

The rest of AP's press release follows.

"By the middle of 2009, AP will complete a review of its pricing and governance structure, re-examining all current policies and rules, such as the two-year notice now required for leaving the news cooperative, and considering other potential changes, including the creation of different classes of membership and services.

In the meantime, the AP Board of Directors voted at its quarterly meeting in New York on Thursday to provide all member newspapers complete access to all AP text content, at no extra cost. In addition, it voted to approve a moratorium on the rate increases that a minority of newspapers were expected to see in 2009 under the current AP pricing structure.

AP estimates these steps will save newspapers another $9 million, on top of the nearly $21 million in savings previously announced in rate assessment reductions. In addition, AP will study the potential for rate adjustments for AP Broadcast members as well."

“Our industry is in the midst of an unprecedented confluence of fast-moving and extraordinary events. Challenges to newspapers and to the economy as a whole keep changing the equation for AP and its members,” said William Dean Singleton, chairman of the AP Board of Directors and vice chairman and CEO of MediaNews Group, Inc. “It is time to consider fundamental change to address members’ rapidly changing needs and to assure that AP remains the world’s leading news organization.”

“We fully understand the pain and the challenges of our members, and we have worked to address these concerns,” said Tom Curley, president and CEO of AP. “For two years, we held rates flat, with no increases. This year we rolled out plans to reduce assessments by up to 10 percent, while providing a far greater range of content. Because of the downturn in the global economy, we are at a point where we must now examine more than just what content costs – but also how AP deals with all of its members and customers.”

This year, AP has been rolling out to members a new pricing and services packaging plan, called Member Choice. Under Member Choice, newspapers were eligible to receive nearly $14 million in assessment reductions. In addition, they would get up to another 5 percent – up to total of $7.5 million - in reductions by enlisting in the AP’s Content Enrichment program. About 10 percent of AP newspaper members saw an increase in rates under this plan, although most of them were part of groups getting overall rate reductions. Those increases will now be put on hold until AP completes the review of its structure.

Two levels of service were available under Member Choice: AP Complete and a core service, AP Breaking News. All members will now receive AP Complete, with full access to all of AP’s English language text content, including analysis and enterprise.AP will immediately launch the study of the cooperative structure and of service options, with plans to report back to the Board of Directors by AP’s annual meeting in April of 2009 with suggestions on how it might be reorganized. The AP Board of Directors oversees and approves all changes regarding structure, pricing and governance of the cooperative.

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More on AP, newsroom cuts and outsourcing

Is the current economic crisis a game-changer for the media landscape? (I thought I'd just try and throw in that much over used media term to see how it reads: ghastly. I think I might start playing 'game-changer' bingo.)

With some newspapers struggling to meet their commercial paper obligations, certainly in 2009, and certainly when 2009 ad forecasts are revealed, some may go under. To prevent this, all issues are on the table, including the heavy usage of wire services such as AP.

I've blogged extensively on wires, and personally have my own thoughts as to what their future is and how in-house resources could and should be better allocated.

Here's more on the AP story. (Previous posts from E&P, then typically MSM behind the story, in a NYT piece that managed to catch up, but not even mention E.W. Scripps!), then more from E&P today.

Are we reaching a tipping point on the viability of many American newspapers, the viability of AP being the symptomatic tip of exactly that point but not the point itself (if I may be allowed to mix my metaphors)?

The more worrying picture for all these newspapers who attempt to devalue paid content from AP is that they devalue their own paid content in so doing. Why should consumer readers pay for content if newspapers won't. Equally, if the AP won't hold the line, or starts a panicky pricing slash in a short-term recession, they may live to regret it, if they live that is.

I'll come back to price cutting in a recession in a minute, but broadly speaking, in media, once you cut prices, it's a long slog to get those revenue figures back-up.

Time for steady hands and steadier nerves.

Will Scripps Follow Tribune In Dropping AP?

By Joe Strupp

Published: October 20, 2008 12:50 PM ET
NEW YORK Just days after Tribune Co. revealed it had given its two-year notice to possibly drop the Associated Press following a recent new rate structure, another major newspaper chain indicated it is considering the same move and is negotiating with AP over rates.

E.W. Scripps, which owns 17 daily papers including the Rocky Mountain News in Denver and The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., declined to say if it already had or had not given notice to AP.

But in an e-mail to E&P, Tim King, Scripps vice president for corporate communications and investor relations, stated: "At this point, all I'd be comfortable saying is that we are a member in good standing of the AP, but we have been engaged in discussions concerning pricing so the future is uncertain."

Rocky Mountain News Editor and Publisher John Temple declined to comment on the situation when asked if notice had been given or if the chain would drop its AP membership. But he said he did believe his paper could operate without AP content.“I think we are very close to being able to do so,” Temple told E&P. “I think there are different papers that could put out a paper without AP in different ways. I believe you can do it and satisfy the needs of your readers.”

AP Spokesman Paul Colford declined to comment on Scripps' situation. The news cooperative just recently received the required two-year notice from Tribune, which owns nine daily papers, that could result in that chain dropping AP in 2010.

Several editors at a handful of Scripps papers declined to talk about the AP on the record, although several said changes could be in the offing. Don Kausler, editor of the Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail, said he did not know exactly when or if notice had been given, but said papers are ready to do without AP if needed.“It’s much like what Tribune is doing, leaving options open,” Kausler said. “When AP requires two-year’s notice, we see no harm in exercising that option. That doesn’t mean that in two years we won’t be running AP stories, but by giving notice, that can happen.”

Kausler said for a small paper like his, which often runs no more than one page a day of national and international news, AP can be expensive.

“Sports is probably the area where papers are more dependent on it,” he adds. “But in the next two years, you will see more alternatives.”

Shane Fitzgerald, editor and vice president of Scripps' Corpus Christi (Tex.) Caller-Times, agrees: "We will just wait and see what happens. We have other wire services, too. We use AP and others."The recent decisions to drop AP service follow the planned AP rate structure change, which was announced in 2007 and takes effect in 2009. The rate change initially prompted complaints from numerous newspapers, including two groups of editors who wrote angry letters to AP to complain in late 2007 and early 2008.Under current AP policy, each newspaper buys a package of general news created by AP based on that paper's location and circulation. The package usually includes breaking news, sports, business, and other national, international, and regional news relevant to the client's market, including its state AP wire. ((Under the new structure, AP member newspapers will receive all breaking news worldwide (including items from other state wires), as well as breaking sports, business, and entertainment stories. In addition, a package of premium content — made up of five types of non-breaking stories including sports, entertainment, business, lifestyle and analysis — will be available at an additional cost. ((When the new structure was announced in 2007, AP promised a combined savings of $5.6 million across newspaper member budgets, which increased to $14 million —and, finally, $21 million just days before the April annual AP meeting. AP also recently instituted a hiring freeze.

In recent months, other papers have given the required two-year's notice to drop AP. Those include: The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, The Bakersfield Californian, The Post Register of Idaho Falls, and The Yakima Herald-Republic and Wenatchee World, both of Washington.

The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., is trying to cut ties without a two-year notice, planning to discontinue AP content at the end of 2008. At least one newspaper, The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., tested the approach by publishing an entire newspaper for one day last month without AP content. So far, that paper has not given notice to cut the service.

Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is a senior editor at E&P.

Meanwhile, over at AP, in the middle of consumer rebellion, the Chairman of the Board of AP thinks it's a good idea to announce that he personally thinks it's a good idea to outsource editorial offerings. Sex on the beach in the UAE, here we go. The AP CEO must be thrilled at his Chairman's fantastic sense of timing.

Personally, until I know a lot more about what's on offer in Bangalore et al., I'm with Bernard Lunzer, president of The Newspaper Guild-CWA. "It may in the short run save costs. In the long run, what does it do to the quality of the product?"

Production and other back office outsourcing to Bangalore is one thing, editorial content, quite another.

APMediaNews CEO: Outsourcing could help save money

Monday October 20, 7:24 pm ET By Matt Sedensky, Associated Press Writer
MediaNews CEO says consolidation, outsourcing could help newspapers survive
AVENTURA, Fla. (AP) -- Consolidating and outsourcing news operations -- even overseas -- could help newspapers survive as their revenues continue to shrink, the head of a major U.S. newspaper company said Monday.
MediaNews Group Inc. CEO Dean Singleton, who also serves as chairman of the board of The Associated Press, told the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association that his company was exploring outsourcing in nearly every aspect of their operations.
"In today's world, whether your desk is down the hall or around the world, from a computer standpoint, it doesn't matter," Singleton said after his speech.
MediaNews publishes The Denver Post, The Detroit News and 52 other daily newspapers and is well known for cost-cutting efforts, including combining many operations of its papers near San Francisco.
Singleton said sending copyediting and design jobs overseas may even be called for.
"One thing we're exploring is having one news desk for all of our newspapers in MediaNews ... maybe even offshore," he said during the speech.
Other publishers also have consolidated newsroom functions this year. Two Florida papers owned by The New York Times Co. said in August they were merging news and copy desk functions, design, layout and pagination. The McClatchy Co. papers in Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., are sharing sports and political reporting staff.
But few have sent newsroom functions overseas, limiting off-shoring mostly to ad production and other non-editorial functions, said Ken Doctor, a media analyst with Outsell Inc.
Notable exceptions are Thomson Reuters, which has been using journalists in Bangalore, India, to handle some basic news such as corporate earnings reports, and a Web site called pasadenanow.com, which has five regular contributors overseas who write about Pasadena, Calif., using webcasts of council meetings and information provided by citizen volunteers.
"We used to have on-the-ground reporters, but the expense was prohibitive," said James Macpherson, editor and publisher of the site. "Regretfully, we had to lay them all off."
Macpherson said he saw no reason a larger publication couldn't adopt similar techniques to save costs.
"You might miss the nuance of a sneer on a councilman's face but you know how he voted and what he said," he said. "That's factual and can be reported on from anywhere."
In a statement, Thomson Reuters spokesman Joe Christinat said that "by reporting some of the more commoditized news from Bangalore, our reporters are freed up to add greater value to the file with more insight, analysis, interviews, exclusives and market-moving, in-depth stories."
Despite this year's dismal drumbeat of layoffs and revenue drops, Singleton said newspapers still have incredible reach in the country, calling them cornerstones of democracy. But he said they must change in order to survive.
"Fond memories of dead newspapers will do nothing for our communities," he said.
Singleton praised electronic versions of newspapers because they eliminate printing and delivery expenses. He also said newspapers could heal their bottom lines by building up their ad sales forces and producing more niche publications like wedding magazines to attract more advertising.
Singleton said no decision has been made to outsource editorial functions overseas at any MediaNews publications, though it was recommended by consultants. He said publishers were trying to consolidate editing and design domestically, whether in one place or several, and see if they could match the savings they would see by going overseas.
Editors and reporters have intensely questioned newsroom outsourcing. Long-distance editors might miss locally relevant nuances or fail to fill in context based on a knowledge of the region, said Bernard Lunzer, president of The Newspaper Guild-CWA.
"It may in the short run save costs. In the long run, what does it do to the quality of the product?" he said.
But Singleton said Monday that local editors would always maintain final control and that no page would go to press without their approval.
Singleton talked about outsourcing delivery of newspapers, relying more intensely on syndicates for non-local news, and moving circulation call centers offshore.
He mentioned outsourcing printing to competitors and centralizing ad production and said that may be as cheap as going overseas. But he said most of the preproduction work for MediaNews' papers in California is being done in India, a move he said cut costs by 65 percent.
"If you need to offshore it, offshore it," he said.
AP Business Writer Anick Jesdanun contributed to this report from New York.

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Some papers in financial trouble are leaving the AP to cut costs (IHT)

I blogged on this too yesterday:

Some papers in financial trouble are leaving the AP to cut costs
By Richard Pérez-Peña
Monday, October 20, 2008
For most of its 137-year history, The Columbus Dispatch has carried articles and images from The Associated Press. Like most big American newspapers, it supplements the work of its own staff with dozens of items daily from The AP.
That may end soon.
Unhappy with both the AP service and its price — more than $800,000 a year at a time when The Dispatch's finances are severely pinched — the paper on Friday took the once-unthinkable step of saying it would drop the service.
What had been a minor newspaper rebellion against The AP suddenly grew much more serious last week, when the Tribune Company, one of the largest newspaper chains, said on Thursday that it would drop out of the association, followed by The Dispatch's announcement. A handful of papers have made the same move over the last few months, but with the exception of The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, they were relatively small.
Tribune, in disclosing the plan to sever its ties with The AP, voiced no complaints about the service, saying only that it needed to cut costs. The move raised the prospect of major Tribune papers like The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune publishing without the aid of a wire service that has been an essential part of American journalism since the cooperative was established more than a century and a half ago.
But editors and publishers at some other papers have become vocal critics of the way The AP operates, saying that it charges more than they can afford, delivers too little of what they need and — particularly galling to them — is sometimes acting as their competitor on the Internet.
"They seem to have forgotten that they are there to serve us," said Benjamin Marrison, editor of The Dispatch.
That anger spilled into public view in April at a meeting in Washington when the president and chief executive of The AP, Tom Curley, discussed his plans to cut prices and add new services — and then watched as editor after editor stood to scold him.
The AP says it is trying to save money for its more than 1,400 member newspapers, and all the changes under way will benefit them. Kathleen Carroll, executive editor of The AP, said the protests came from a small number of papers and stem from "some element of misunderstanding about what AP is trying to do" and frustration over the papers' finances.
"I don't think any of us can ignore the economic circumstances newspapers are in now," Carroll said. "Being the editor of a newspaper in the United States right now is really hard."
Contractually, newspapers must give two years' notice to drop the service, so those that recently opted out have until 2010 to change their minds. AP executives say they suspect that some papers are using that notice as leverage to bargain for lower rates.
In addition to the papers that said they would leave the wire, others are considering it, and still others have set up regional cooperatives meant to supplant part of their relationship with The AP — a trial run for life after the wire service.
Newspapers are going through their most wrenching time since the Depression, with advertising revenue falling about 25 percent over the last two years. But the balance sheet of The AP, a nonprofit company, is healthy; last year its profit rose 81 percent, to $24 million, on revenue of $710 million, according to a financial statement issued to its members.
It remains to be seen whether defections become a major problem for The AP, the world's largest news-gathering organization with more than 3,000 journalists in about 100 countries. Without the rich diet of articles, photographs, audio and video it feeds its clients, most American newspapers would be much slimmer and their coverage less expansive.
Newspapers banded together 162 years ago to create The Associated Press. Only daily papers in the United States can be members, giving them ownership and a vote in elections for the board. The company has more than 5,000 other domestic clients — broadcasters, Web sites, weekly papers and magazines — and roughly 8,500 abroad.
In addition to the news that AP reporters produce, the wire also takes breaking news articles from its members and distributes them to other clients.
For many members, The AP is one of their biggest expenses.
"We pay in excess of $1 million a year to The AP, which is equal to 10 to 12 reporters in the newsroom," said Nancy Barnes, editor of The Star Tribune.
Several editors interviewed for this article said they could find other sources for written material — wire services like Reuters or Bloomberg News, or the news services sold by major newspaper companies. But other AP products, especially photography, would be harder to replace, they said.
"We thought, 'We have two years to try and figure this out,' " Barnes said. Her paper is one of the industry's most troubled; it recently stopped making payments on its debt.
This summer, dissatisfied with the way The AP handles local news, eight papers in Ohio formed a cooperative to share articles, and some of those papers say they might drop the wire service. Newspapers in Pennsylvania are exploring a similar arrangement.
"We're facing terrible economic challenges, so naturally we're looking at one of our biggest costs," said David Shribman, executive editor of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The editors in Ohio, in particular, say The AP has retreated from one of its traditional roles: producing a lot of routine, breaking-news articles.
The AP wants to make its work more engaging, with more enterprise journalism like features, investigations and analyses — but that is also the direction many papers are going.
Marrison of The Columbus Dispatch said that course had forced newspapers to devote more resources to small stories that used to be covered by The AP "Then The AP rewrites our story and sends it out," he said. "So we're sacrificing our enterprise so that AP can do its enterprise? No, no, no. We're the owners."
Carroll of The AP said it had only "trimmed back on things that weren't getting much use."
"We're not trying to absolve ourselves from nuts-and-bolts news, but we cannot survive if we are spending our day doing the mark-up of some legislative measure that is of interest to one part of the state but not another," she said.
The AP does not release details about what clients pay, but newspapers' fees vary based on their circulation and the services they receive. For the last three years, the company has held those fees flat. The AP says the fees are partly subsidized by the higher prices it charges to nonmember clients, which account for about three-quarters of its revenue.
The AP says that a new price structure, set to go into effect in January, will give papers a 10 percent price cut on average. But even that plan caused complaints, leading to multiple revisions since it was first announced last year.
Papers object to a requirement that they allow The AP to apply its electronic tags to the articles they publish in order for the papers to qualify for the discounted fees.
The tags are bits of computer code, invisible to readers, that are intended to make Web pages rank high in Internet searches. While The AP says that most member papers have signed up for the tagging program, the largest newspapers, including The New York Times, have developed their own tagging systems and so far have not switched to The AP's.
The AP recently introduced an ad-supported mobile Internet service, fed by its own work and that of newspapers in the tagging program. To some newspaper executives, the mobile service looks like a bid by The AP to make money from their work — and to compete with the papers' own mobile services.
"If you want our content, you should have to come to us for it," said Barnes of The Star Tribune.
Similarly, some editors and publishers dislike The AP's practice of selling a news service to aggregators like Google and Yahoo; they want their own articles on those sites instead.
Jim Kennedy, an AP vice president and its director for strategic planning, said that papers should not see The AP as a competitor. He said the mobile network would share ad revenue with participating papers — many of which do not have the resources to develop such services — and drive Internet traffic to those papers.
"We're trying to be the portal, linking back to the contributors," he said. "We know there are members who would rather we didn't license our content to Google," he said, "but the money The AP gets from that helps defray the costs that members don't pay."

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The future of AP

Who thinks they could do without AP?

Certainly the IHT has subscriptions to Bloomberg (which it uses occassionaly since the demise of Business Asia with Bloomberg and the new deal with Reuters, for which Reuters actually pays to be co-branded in the IHT in the Business with Reuters section).

Reuters is also used heavily for briefs and www.iht.com.

One has the feeling that the IHT could live without AP, in these days of big cost cuts resulting from horrible 2009 advertising budgets, it wouldn't surprise me if even the NYTMG cut them. If they could, if Tribune Company has, many others will follow.

Shocker: Tribune Co. Gives Notice To Drop AP

By Joe StruppPublished: October 16, 2008 12:40 PM ET
NEW YORK

Tribune Company has given a two-year notice to the Associated Press that its daily newspapers plan to drop the news service, becoming the first major newspaper chain to do so since the recent controversy over new rates began.

Tribune, which owns nine daily papers including the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, joins a growing list of newspapers that have sought to end AP contracts, or given notice of that, following plans to introduce a new controversial rate structure in 2009. The notice was given earlier this week.

AP Spokesman Paul Colford confirmed the cancellation notice, but said he had no more specifics. He issued the following statement about it:"We understand that in this climate a lot of newspapers are re-examining their strategies. The Associated Press will continue to work with all members of the cooperative to ensure that we are providing the most efficient, valued and essential news service for them."

The notice, of course, does not mean Tribune is cutting AP immediately. The news cooperative requires the two-year notice as part of its current contracts. Negotiations may lead to the termination not moving forward.

Tribune Spokesman Gary Weitman did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday as he is traveling. The notice comes less than a year after Sam Zell, an AP board member, took control of Tribune.Tribune daily papers besids the flagship in Chicago affected include The Sun Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; The Orlando Sentinel; Red Eye of Chicago; the Hartford Courant; The Baltimore Sun; The Morning Call of Allentown, Pa.; and The Daily Press of Newport News, Va.

"I think many editors are concerned about the new financial rate model that AP has rolled out," Earl Maucker, editor of the Sun Sentinel, said about the notice. "It is a natural approach for us to take a hard look at that. Are there other alternatives out there that would provide the depth and breadth of coverage we need?"

In recent months, other non-Tribune papers have also given the required two-year's notice to drop AP. Those include: The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, The Bakersfield Californian, The Post Register of Idaho Falls, and The Yakima Herald-Republic and Wenatchee World, both of Washington.The Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., is trying to cut ties without the required two-year notice, planning to discontinue AP content at the end of 2008. At least one newspaper, The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., tested the approach by publishing an entire newspaper for one day last month without AP content. So far, that paper has not given notice to cut the service.Maucker said publishing without AP would be difficult, but not impossible: "We would have to take a look at what other options might be available."

The recent decisions to drop AP service follow the planned AP rate structure change, which was announced in 2007 and takes effect in 2009. The rate change initially prompted complaints from numerous newspapers, including two groups of editors who wrote angry letters to AP to complain in late 2007 and early 2008.

Under current AP policy, each newspaper buys a package of general news created by AP based on that paper's location and circulation. The package usually includes breaking news, sports, business, and other national, international, and regional news relevant to the client's market, including its state AP wire.

Under the new structure, AP member newspapers will receive all breaking news worldwide (including items from other state wires), as well as breaking sports, business, and entertainment stories. In addition, a package of premium content — made up of five types of non-breaking stories including sports, entertainment, business, lifestyle and analysis — will be available at an additional cost.When the new structure was announced in 2007, AP promised a combined savings of $5.6 million across newspaper member budgets, which increased to $14 million —and, finally, $21 million just days before the April annual AP meeting.((AP officials said member newspapers would begin to find out in July what their exact fees would be for 2009, which prompted some of the recent decisions and could result in other newspapers cutting their service before the end of the year.

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IDG CEO: 'We Have to Create Something Entirely New for the Web' (Fishbowl)

Tuesday, Oct 14

Last week, we heard Bob Carrigan speak at the 2008 American Magazine Conference about making money in the online world. The CEO of IDG Communications worldwide had some interesting ideas, so earlier today we spoke with him by phone.
Carrigan, whose company publishes GamePro, Mac World, PC World and a host of others, said that since IDG's publications are in the technology sector, the company "jumped in early and has been experimenting aggressively" on the Web. On the b-to-b side of the business, they are using their vast databases to develop lead generations that are then sold to marketers. This practice has been increasingly successful and lucrative.
Carrigan also spoke about his vision for magazine Web sites. "The industry talks a lot about the transition from print to online ... We have to create something entirely new for the Web," he said. "It's about creating something that's pure for the Web."
But how does one do that? Well, having your own global news service is a great start.
The IDG News Service is a "global new service" that "only syndicates news to internal IDG sites," he said. Although its been around for upwards of 20 years — pre-Internet, it was used primarily to send news around the world for inclusion in the international editions of various magazines — the service has been instrumental in providing sites with interesting, constantly refreshed and original content. "[Our] brands will take the stories and make them their own," Carrigan said. "Most technology stories are relevant to their Web site."
IDG Web sites also rely on their users to create content. "We have very active communities that contribute content and insight," the CEO explained, while remarking that features from the print magazines make up less than one percent of the content on each site. The result is a "standalone" site that can "compete against pure play competitors."
In the near future, IDG — like so many other companies — will look to expand into the mobile realm. Having a presence in 85 countries helps this venture. "In the area of mobile, the U.S. is way behind," Carrigan said, noting that many developments in the mobile arena have come from IDG's outposts across the Atlantic.

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What is A Place in the Auvergne?

It's many things, but it's a place where I follow and understand the world.

Here's my posting of today about Monday, 13th October, 2008 (and normally I don't write myself but let the IHT's contentspeak for itself within my own narrative).

IW: In my study at 0530.

I've been troubled for some time about the undeclared war between the U.S.A and Pakistan (two nuclear states) being fought through the proxies of Afghanistan, NATO and India on the one hand - more nuclear armed countries - and a Chinese (nuclear armed)

or even Russian (another) aided Pakistan on the other.

All it needs to radically escalate is either a nuclear terrorist act or some sign of radicals gaining power in Pakistan and/or a flash-point between India and Pakistan (we already have Kashmir but there is much more in the water). Equally provocative would be the Taliban retaking Kabul because clearly their next target would be Islamabad.

And that meets hands on red buttons time, for all concerned, especially given American fears and Indian fears in a country ravaged by inter-religious violence.

Today was notable for a brewing water dispute between Pakistan and India, the Pakistani president planning on China (why now? what does he need), an American arrested in Pakistan trying to enter the tribal areas (to do or pick up what?) and the usual fighting in Afghanistan/Pakistan.

If we add to this the recent stories of nuclear scientists (a Russian most recently) trading in missile technology, and what many security analysts see as a 50/50 chance of an act of nuclear terrorism in the West within the next decade (prompting a massive middle and upper class population shift out of cities to the countryside, on a scale which will make whites with S.U.Vs leaving New Orleans before Katrina look like a couple of families going hiking), things would deteriorate very quickly.

There is no doubt the Americans would use the opportunity to mop up Iran, using nukes, on first strike, because this is their only viable military capacity so to do. But let's assume the Iranians get one or two of theirs away (Israel; a strikeable NATO capital). If that escalates, with all the aid given to Iran by a puffed-chest Russia, one can better understand why the Russians aren't quite so keen to have American missile defence systems on their borders.

Now throw into the mix a 1 in 8 chance of Sara Palin becoming the President of the United States and being at the wheel when this kicks off.

I said some time ago McCain would win: someone asked me why.

a) Lies, Lies, and more Lies, replayed time and time again about Obama;
b) Fear, real security fear, in the U.S.A and a man who got shot down and spent several years in a Vietcong prison is, apparently, a safer pair of hands;
c) Hilary voters, not many, but enough of them to tip a state or two, voting for the Republican ticket because it has a woman on it;
d) People not telling their private views to pollsters about voting intentions for Obama because the real war in the U.S.A is the undisclosed race war and there are plenty of working class, Democrat voting white men who will not vote a black man to be their president whatever they say down the phone infront of their wife and kids to a telephone pollster;
e) McCain's age and health problem history.

1 in 8 is the statistical chance on Palin becoming President of the U.S.A.

It's autumn now and I hope we don't see a tactical nuclear winter

in the years to come.

Zardari says water row may affect Pakistan-India ties
Reuters Monday, October 13, 2008

Hinduism vs. Christianity in India
By Somini Sengupta, Monday, October 13, 2008

No letup in slaying of Christians in Mosul
The Associated Press Monday, October 13, 2008

Afghan violence kills 14 Taliban and 8 civilians
Reuters Monday, October 13, 2008

U.S. man arrested in Pakistan militant area
The Associated Press Monday, October 13, 2008

U.S. commander rejects reports of Afghan war being lost
By John F. Burns, Monday, October 13, 2008

WITNESS - Life in Mexico's deadliest drug war city
Reuters Monday, October 13, 2008

NKorea re-admits U.N. monitors to atom site
Reuters Monday, October 13, 2008

Pakistani president to visit China
By Salman Masood, Monday, October 13, 2008

The man behind the whispers about Obama
By Jim Rutenberg, Monday, October 13, 2008

Russia tests long-range missile
Reuters, Monday, October 13, 2008


Just for those of you that don't think that most of IHT.com's content comes from those oh so bad wire services that we still pay to use, 7 out of the above 11 stories that interested me within this particular daily narrative, come from the wires.

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Wires, wires, wires: too expensive? Paid digital content?

I've been blogging a fair bit about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the wires versus the original news content generated by the NYT/IHT. There is a lot of MSM resentment to their fellow MSM providers - insults over quality and maturity of their writers and now of course, to add to this, we have the sin that they - guess what - CHARGE FOR DIGITAL CONTENT.

That is of course a pretty revolutionary concept for newspapers and one they find impossible to do with the exception of a handful - South China Morning Post, WSJ, the Japanese business newspaper whose name completely escapes me (this is a blog, sorrry) for example.

LexisNexis® is a leading global provider of business information solutions to professionals in law firms, corporations, government, law enforcement, tax, accounting, academic institutions and risk and compliance assessment.

Yet paid content is out there in big numbers: the wires for one, LexisNexis for newspapers and companies, investment banks - whoops, scratch that last term - big financial institutions, law firms etc; your Mum's voice over your mobile phone (yes, that's digital content which you pay for, sorry) and CNN on your cable package. In some cases it's very clear you're paying for content, in others, like your cable package, you probably have a sense its free, but it's not.

So seeing newspapers in a tizz about paying for something they can't monetize themselves is kind of ironic and mildly amusing.

But I'd like to tip my hat to Star Tribune Editor Nancy Barnes, whose remarks are in bold below, and seems to be one of very few newspaper people who kind of get this paid content thing.

Newspapers Weigh Alternatives to AP: But Do They Add Up?By Joe StruppPublished: October 11, 2008 10:21 AM ET
NEW YORK Since the Associated Press announced its controversial rate change last year, many newspapers have started considering other content options. And things are not likely to calm down any time soon.

A handful of dailies — including several who admit their AP rates actually fell — have given notice to drop the service, editors in several states are forging content-sharing alliances, and Politico and PA SportsTicker are quickly positioning themselves to help replace the 160-year-old news cooperative in daily news pages.

But is the latest dispute over AP rates and services a real sign that its relationship with newspapers will be forever changed? Can a mid-sized or major daily really exist without the news cooperative? Or is this just a bluff?

"AP is going to lose newspapers, it is a question of how many," says Editor Dean Miller of the Post Register in Idaho Falls, which several months ago gave its required two years' notice that it plans to drop the news service. "My guess is most of their losses will be in medium and small markets." Since the beginning of the year, when the backlash began against AP's rate change, more than a half-dozen dailies have given notice, including The Bakersfield Californian, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, and Washington's Yakima Herald-Republic and The Wenatchee World.

"I think the AP regional report has fallen off in quantity, and in some ways, quality," claims Paul Emerson, managing editor at the Lewiston (Idaho) Tribune, which gave notice to AP in September — even though its rates would drop about 17% under the new system. "It is mostly a concern about content." At least one paper, the Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Wash., is challenging AP's two-year-notice requirement and plans to stop using and paying for the wire service by the end of the year. "The legal point here is that we are not canceling a contract, we are declining to sign a new contract," says Editor Steve Smith, who admits a $30,000 expected savings in 2009, but says the remaining $375,000 AP bill is too high.

"More editors are feeling disenfranchised and disregarded by AP."

AP officials declined to comment for this story. But AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll, addressing the rate issue during the Associated Press Managing Editors conference in Las Vegas last month, told a group of newspaper editors there, "we certainly hope that the basic fundamentals of the economy and the marketplace will firm up enough so that the pressure is off some of the people who own the AP."

But even with promised AP cuts, editors have been dissatisfied, saying they cannot afford it. Others have claimed the news content is not what they need, particularly with regard to regional and state coverage. "We are exploring our options to see what our outs are," says Ben Marrison, editor of The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch and one of eight Ohio editors who wrote jointly to AP in late 2007 to complain.

"All of our department heads are exploring what it would mean if we had AP or did not have AP."

The dispute dates back more than a year to mid-2007, when AP announced the rate restructuring (and some new services), which will not even take effect until 2009. When the new approach was announced in 2007, AP promised a combined savings of $5.6 million across newspaper member budgets, which increased to $14 million, and, finally, $21 million just days before the AP's annual meeting in April 2008.

Aside from price, there is growing criticism that AP offers content to newspaper competitors at television and radio stations that directly compete online. Star Tribune Editor Nancy Barnes says that is the key reason she gave notice to dump AP: "We want more control of our content and how it is distributed. It is very difficult for us to do that under the current AP contract."

At least one major daily, The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., tested that theory, publishing an entire newspaper on Sept. 10 without AP, using a combination of local staff, non-AP news services, and PA SportsTicker, a growing sports outlet that has already signed on with New York's Daily News to provide sports coverage. "They are in an evaluation period to evaluate all of our content," Jay Imus, PA SportsTicker's director of sales, says of the Star-Ledger. Editor Jim Willse and Publisher George Arwady did not respond to requests for comment.

Imus says that at least five other U.S. dailies are reviewing PA SportsTicker and have indicated interest in signing up. "I think we will be successful in serving hundreds of clients because there are many willing to give it a try," he says. "They are fed up with how intolerable AP has been.

"Another recent newspaper option is Politico, the political Web site nearing its second anniversary. It recently launched a content-sharing arrangement with numerous newspapers in which Politico provides content in exchange for the right to sell ads that are placed with that content. Politico and the paper split the ad revenues.

"There is no doubt that the trend of papers pulling back on Washington coverage is growing, and it will put more of the burden on places like Politico because people want coverage," says Jim VandeHei, Politico's executive editor. "Washington coverage is still absolutely necessary." Newspapers that have signed on include The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Denver Post, and The Plain Dealer in Cleveland.

If enough papers seek to drop AP altogether, Politico could serve as an even more viable alternative, at least in part. VandeHei says, "We think we have a pretty distinctive voice."

Editors say using Politico copy with that of traditional news services such as McClatchy-Tribune, Hearst, or The New York Times News Service could fill the AP void. "I would be interested in cobbling something together," says Rex Rhoades, executive editor of the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine. Rhoades says even with what he terms a "small decrease" under the new AP rate structure next year, his annual cost will be about $157,000 for AP, while McClatchy-Tribune charges him $10,000 per year.

There's also the approach of newspapers sharing content among themselves. Statewide sharing has already increased significantly between some papers in Idaho, Washington, Ohio, and Florida. The Ohio group recently decided to co-sponsor campaign polls and publish the results on the same day. Rhoades of the Sun Journal also says he could see the day when newspapers nationwide share content.

Adds Miller in Idaho Falls: "Remember, AP was created by newspapers."
Joe Strupp (letters@editorandpublisher.com) is a senior editor at E&P.

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iht.com, information hierarchies, the wires versus the NYT conent and the daily article index

What I'm going to do now is try and kill multiple birds with one stone.

This post stems from the following:

a) My use of the daily article index on iht.com to look at a snapshot of the news from any given day - very useful and complimentary to my reading of the print edition (and something I use to compile an alternative daily IHT narrative at A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE) and my irritations with how it indexes incorrectly (e.g business stories in sports section or vice versa or the same story indexed multiple times. I've posted on this before, a few times.

b) A discussion I had with two senior IHT editors last week, one of whom had never heard of the daily article index on www.iht.com (he was an iht.com editor). The other editor explained the above irritations (brought to their attention via this blog) as being the result of the index being compiled automatically and that it simply reflected ANY iht.com story that an IHT editor, at some point in the day, had either uploaded or edited or both. (Here is an example of my irritation.)

c) I have blogged on whether the NYT can compete with the wires for news and I have blogged on the fact that the wires also do 'off the news' analysis and background reporting. Both the editors I spoke with did not speak highly of the wires, including reporters, one of them describing them as 'the bottom of the journalistic food chain', another as youthful and inexperienced and often wrong.

To which I replied, if that's the case, how come so much iht.com content and IHT newspaper content is wire content?

For the latter, they argued only for the briefs, and for www.iht.com they argued that most of it was NYT/IHT content to which I responded, no, not true. (Not actually sure if I was right in saying that, so hence this posting.)

We also discussed what counted as NYT/IHT content.

Was a reworked wire story by Alan Cowell for example - because he just loves to write - essentially what I would call glorified wire content (as opposed to get out there reporting ) - or was it IHT content? Clearly the editors I spoke with argued the latter as being the case.

So what I've done is to take one day from iht.com, using the unheard of daily article index, and checked it out properly.

Here are the results from Saturday, 11th October daily article index. (This link will only be relevant to explore until next Saturday when it will carry the content of 18th October 2008.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday


HOMEPAGE
In Somalia, a 'forgotten crisis' - NYT Nairobi based correspondent; reporting from Somalia

World leaders gather in Washington to discuss crisis; Dow ends down 1.5 percent IHT man in Frankfurt. David Jolly and Katrin Bennhold in Paris and Graham Bowley in New York contributed reporting. (All IHT people and all using, to what degree we don't know, wires.)

Nobel Peace Prize is quiet diplomat's latest reward Sarah Lyall (NYT), Alan Cowell (IHT) and Walter Gibbs (? but NYT/IHT); no geographical byline

McCain attacks Obama for supposed ties to '60s radical (2 NYT people - no geographical by line)

NATO allows strikes on Afghan drug sites (IHT's Judy Dempsey reporting from NATO meeting in Bucharest)

For Europe, the credit crunch is here IHT's Carter Dougherty reported from Frankfurt; Katrin Bennhold (IHT) from Paris. Matthew Saltmarsh (?) contributed reporting from Paris.

Asia, too, feels the pain Keith Bradsher (IHT HK) plus Choe Sang-Hun in Seoul, Carlos H. Conde in Manila, Thomas Fuller in Bangkok, Anand Giridharadas in Mumbai and Hilda Wang in Hong Kong also contributed reporting.

Oil price drop below $78 a barrel as energy agency cuts demand forecast David Jolly (IHT.com business editor currently in Paris but what happens to him next March, not clear) possibly using wires, plus say press release, plus some phone calls if he has time.

Inquiry into Madrid crash shows system failure REUTERS MADRID

Iceland banks face claims from depositors abroad IHT's Eric Pfanner in REYKJAVIK This is a fast moving story, so we'll follow how www.iht.com deals with it.

U.S. and India sign nuclear deal THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON

Christians fleeing Mosul after targeted killings NYT's Erica Goode and Suadad Al-Salhy in Baghdad

Connecticut overturns ban on same-sex marriage NYT's Sharon Otterman with no Connecticut byline.

U.S. closer to nuclear deal with North Korea NYT's Helene Cooper in Washington

U.K. reports new data loss for 100,000 military staff THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON

Georgian refugees begin to return home NYT's Ellen Barry in Georgia

America's eco-kids keep a keen eye on their parents NYT's Lisa W. Foderaro with no geographical byline (these articles always seem to have a bit of a Cosmo feel to them - how do they find these people? Friends and acquaintances of writer? No.)

Ailing U.S. economy brings fears of a crime wave Letter from America: NYT's Christine Hauser and Al Baker from New York

From across the centuries, a different view of Picasso NYT's (?) Meg Mortin in Paris

As fears ease, Baghdad sees walls tumble This article was reported by Alissa J. Rubin, Stephen Farrell and Erica Goode, and written by Rubin and Farrell (are they all in Baghdad?) Sam Dagher (which reads a lot like danger and need for journalist to have a dagger - at least i.e out side the Green Zone) and Anwar J. Ali contributed reporting.

Paul Krugman: Moment of truth NYT columnist

Africa's expensive borders OPINION Rod Hunter, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute and a Washington lawyer, served as senior director at the National Security Council. Commissioned by Serge S (editorial page editor of IHT in Paris) or by NYT op-ed page. Will the IHT retain its own editorial page editor. Some say YES, emphatically, other rumours doubt it.

Pius XII and the Holocaust OPINION John Berwick is the religious affairs correspondent of DW-TV, Germany's international state broadcaster. Commissioned by Serge S (editorial page editor of IHT in Paris) or by NYT op-ed page. Will the IHT retain its own editorial page editor. Some say YES, emphatically, other rumours doubt it.

An economy you can bank on OPINION Casey B. Mulligan is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. Commissioned by Serge S (editorial page editor of IHT in Paris) or by NYT op-ed page. Will the IHT retain its own editorial page editor. Some say YES, emphatically, other rumours doubt it.


BUSINESS WITH REUTERS

World leaders gather in Washington to discuss crisis; Dow ends down 1.5 percent ALREADY INDEXED ON HOME PAGE - SEE ABOVE.

For Europe, the credit crunch is here ALREADY INDEXED ON HOME PAGE - SEE ABOVE.

Asia, too, feels the pain ALREADY INDEXED ON HOME PAGE - SEE ABOVE.

Crisis began with Lehman's collapse, Europeans say Nelson D. Schwartz in Paris (IHT or NYT, I don't know because I haven't the time to check all these guys out but not wire content). As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

Russia taps oil money for use in stock market NYT's Andrew E. Kramer in Moscow. As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

Oil price drop below $78 a barrel as energy agency cuts demand forecast ALREADY INDEXED ON HOME PAGE - SEE ABOVE.

Morgan Stanley under pressure as deal date approaches NYT Ben White in New York. As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

Iceland banks face claims from depositors abroad ALREADY INDEXED ON HOME PAGE - SEE ABOVE.

Scarred by past woes, Japan sees U.S. bailout as a first step MEMO FROM TOKYO by NYT's Martin Fackler in Tokyo. As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

Insurance industry joins banks on the hot seat NYT's Mary Williams Walsh; no geographical byline. As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

Designing the extraordinary SPOTLIGHT by NYT's Elisabetta Povoledo in Italy. As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

U.S. plans to buy equity in institutions REUTERS WASHINGTON

Inquiry into Madrid crash shows system failure ALREADY INDEXED ON HOME PAGE - SEE ABOVE. REUTERS MADRID

U.S. stocks end mostly lower after wild session REUTERS - No geographical byline i.e London.

Dow pares heavy losses to close down 1.5 percent in chaotic trading IHT's Bowley and Jolly but compare and contrast the Reuters story above with theirs to see what the IHT editors call 'bringing a wire story up to IHT standards'. This story and the one above basically cover the same ground, but are different.

G7 pledges united crisis response REUTERS No geographical byline i.e London

Germany working on UK-style bank rescue plan REUTERS No geographical byline i.e London

Santander completes Alliance & Leicester purchase REUTERS MADRID

As GE profit falls, company sees itself weathering the storm NYT'S Steve Lohr in New York. As this isn't already indexed on home page, why not move this to top of business index? It's NEW(S).

Shares of Wall Street firms slump REUTERS NEW YORK

Barclays plans 3,000 job cuts after Lehman deal REUTERS No geographical byline i.e London

Morgan Stanley and Goldman shares tumble REUTERS No geographical byline i.e London

Iceland's Straumur says cancels Landsbanki deal REUTERS STOCKHOLM (I thought Pfanner was in Iceland to cover this story - why not make him update his piece with this info and not publish this Reuters piece)


Finance arm weighs on GE results This has already been run and indexed under another headline - see above As GE profit falls, company sees itself weathering the storm . The reason it appears twice is, I am told, because the original article has been touched in someway by www.iht.com editors; either by way of an undate or simply a new headline. Either way. it's irritating to be searching on two posts.

Germany working on UK-style rescue plan This REUTERS story has already been run and indexed under another headline - see above Germany working on UK-style bank rescue plan . The reason it appears twice is, I am told, because the original article has been touched in someway by www.iht.com editors; either by way of an undate or simply a new headline. Either way. it's irritating to be searching on two posts.

U.S. reviewing UK interbank guarantee idea This REUTERS WASHINGTON story has already been run and indexed under another headline - see above U.S. plans to buy equity in institutions. The reason it appears twice is, I am told, because the original article has been touched in someway by www.iht.com editors; either by way of an undate or simply a new headline. Either way. it's irritating to be searching on two posts.

IMF chief cites 'crisis of confidence' BLOOMBERG WASHINGTON

Berlusconi floats idea of suspending markets BLOOMBERG NAPLES

Russia approves loan plan to ease credit crunch This NYT MOSCOW story has already been run and indexed under another headline - see above Russia taps oil money for use in stock market The reason it appears twice is, I am told, because the original article has been touched in someway by www.iht.com editors; either by way of an undate or simply a new headline. Either way. it's irritating to be searching on two posts.

Wall St. swings wildly after global selloff This is now IHT.com Paris' third run at this story. has already been run and indexed under another headline - see above Dow pares heavy losses to close down 1.5 percent in chaotic trading. IF AN ARTICLE IS UPDATED DURING THE DAY, PULL THE PREVIOUS ONES OF THE SITE - THAT'S HOW YOU GET A SIMPLE SNAP SHOT AT THE END OF THE DAY. The reason it appears twice is, I am told, because the original article has been touched in someway by www.iht.com editors; either by way of an undate or simply a new headline. Either way. it's irritating to be searching on two posts.

Iceland says will meet obligations despite meltdown REIUTERS with no geographical byline but an Icelandic reporter at least somewhere. Written by By Omar Valdimarsson and Brett Young(Additional reporting by Michael Kahn, Adrian Croft, David Clarke and Carolyn Kohn in London, Boris Groendahl in Vienna; Writing by Dominic Evans) WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WRITTEN BY AND WRITING BY? THIS IS NOT A CRITICISM, JUST SOMETHING AS A NON-JOURNALIST I AM YET TO LEARN. You can criticise the wires as much as you like, but thus far, by my count, the NYT/IHT has one journalist on this ENORMOUS story - Pfanner reporting from Iceland - but Reuters has AT LEAST 9 journalists on the job, from Iceland to Stockholm to Vienna and London. It may well be that Reuters have PAID to be in the IHT under the BUSINESS WITH REUTERS label, but its hard to reconcile the IHT editors criticism of Reuters if a) they agreed to the deal - someone somewhere at the NYT/IHT think's they are good enough and b) they have c 2,200 correspondents to the NYT's 26 or 28.

Merrill Lynch hires advisers from Lehman and UBS REUTERS no geographical byline. By Bob Margolis (Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Carphone and Best Buy to unveil Europe expansion plan REUTERS no geographical byline. By Mark Potter (Editing by Paul Bolding)

Thomson Reuters and CME to close FXMarketSpace REUTERS LONDON. (Reporting by Kate Holton and Paul Hoskins; Editing by Andrew Callus) I've posted before about conflict of interest in allowing Reuters to cover Thomson Reuters. This should be a NYT/IHT media story which it could be if the IHT's media writer wasn't in Iceland trying to learn, on the spot, all about Icelandic banking, something the Reuters people in Iceland probably had something of a head start on.

Brown says OPEC output cut would be wrong REUTERS LONDON (Editing by Anthony Barker)

Iceland expected to ask IMF for help This IHT PFANNER PARACHUTE JOURNALISM STORY is now run for the second time - previously under Iceland banks face claims from depositors abroad We've also had TWO other Iceland stories - could they not at least all be indexed together so that we can get at the particular story in question more efficiently. (The reason it appears twice is, as ever...... ) I understand that news evolves during the day, but the use of the same photo, and most of the previous text to my mind means it would be better to pull the previous story and have someone in Paris/NY/HK edit together the full Iceland story (or whatever story) so that it is complete and timely at any given stage in the news cycle).

GE profit falls for 3rd straight quarter BLOOMBERG WASHINGTON but let's not be forgeting that www.iht.com has already run two versions of this evolving story by the NYT's Steve Lohr, under the headlines As GE profit falls, company sees itself weathering the storm and Finance arm weighs on GE results.

Government wants constructive Iceland relationships IHTs Pfanner in Iceland. This is now the third version and a new headline, but same basic article just updated - kill those earlier posts. Before we had - leaving aside the wire headlines and stories on this - Iceland banks face claims from depositors abroad and Iceland expected to ask IMF for help. My point made before stands. This may not be practical - merging and posting at any given time just one article but if you want to know how people waste time on the Internet, this is a pretty good example, if I was to come to www.iht.com and look for the Iceland story, either during the day or after it. A resource problem, a technical problem, I don't know.

Brit Energy expects 2 reactor restarts delay to '09 REUTERS - no geographical byline. By Daniel Fineren. Additional reporting by Nao Nakanishi and Sue Thomas; editing by James Jukwey. viz is to say, more people on Brit Energy than the NYT can muster for www.iht.com's coverage of a 'European' country going bankcrupt.

Woolworths sells up to 9 store leases to Tesco REUTERS LONDON - Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Paul Bolding and Hans Peters. See point above about resources.

Barclays says may raise capital to boost ratios REUTERS LONDON - (Reporting by Steve Slater; Editing by Paul Bolding)

Oil futures slide below $80 a barrel on economic woes IHT's David Jolly. Again and again (See above Oil price drop below $78 a barrel as energy agency cuts demand forecast posted and indexed twice already.)

Millionaire Sugar buys Woolworths stake REUTERS LONDON (Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Erica Billingham)

European shares tumble 7.8 percent REUTERS FRANKFURT -another markets story (see David Jolly above) this time by Peter Starck)

I'M GOING OUT FOR LUNCH NOW BUT I AIM TO COMPLETE THIS ANALYSIS OF CONTENT DURING THE COMING DAYS.

WHAT I WON'T DO IS RE-POST THIS POST EACH TIME I UPDATE IT - WHICH IS THE WWW.IHT.COM METHOD; RATHER I WILL COME BACK AND EDIT THIS POST AS I CONTINUE.

Philip Green denies Sainsbury stake report
John Lewis weekly dept store sales down 0.5 pct
Darling appeals for new ideas on crisis
Renishaw says first-quarter pretax profit up 75 pct
Watchdog says retail payment protection needs improving
Admiral's confused.com margins squeezed and shares down
FTSE seen opening more than 6 pct lower
FTSE slumps 8.9 pct
Stocks plunge, pressure on G7 to act on crisis
G7 pledges urgent action as markets reel
Wells Fargo wins the war for Wachovia
Citi ends talks with Wells Fargo on Wachovia
Asian shares plunge after U.S. sell-off
Germany's Mr. DAX is face of market crisis
Oil drops 10 percent on demand concerns
Selling frenzy persists as global stocks dive
IMF readies emergency bailouts

CULTURE
From across the centuries, a different view of Picasso
Financial turmoil reshapes a corner of the art market
'Happy-Go-Lucky': A charming romp on the complicated quest for happiness
Britney Spears, Brad Pitt, The Beatles
'Bombay Anna': A governess continues to charm
A new art: On fringes of Frieze, design slips in side door
Morandini's art: Playful, geometric design
Korean art emerges from China's shadow
Moscow catches new art bug
Kim Chan, actor in diverse Asian roles
Excerpts from Le Clézio's work

HEALTH AND SCIENCE
America's eco-kids keep a keen eye on their parents
Indonesian officials unveil a deal to protect forests
Maritime organization seeks to cut air pollution from oceangoing ships

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST
In Somalia, a 'forgotten crisis'
As fears ease, Baghdad sees walls tumble
Christians fleeing Mosul after targeted killings
Nuclear aid by Russian to Iranians suspected
100 migrants feared drowned off Yemen, UN says
2 Americans released after detention in Syria
Libya to withdraw $7 billion of assets from Swiss banks
Zimbabwe's inflation rate spirals higher still
Iranian boy gets cancer treatment in Israel
Livni urges calm after Arabs and Jews clash in Israel
Malawi bans Chinese milk product imports
Global crisis may worsen Africa's hunger
Sadr blames U.S. for Iraqi lawmaker death
Hundreds mourn slain Sadr MP in Baghdad slum
Zimbabwe's rivals agree to seek Mbeki mediation
Turkish warplanes hit suspected PKK in N.Iraq
South Africa's ANC likely to split says dissident
Pirates reportedly seize another ship off Somalia
Roadside bomb in Baghdad kills Shiite legislator
Jews and Arabs clash in northern Israeli city

AMERICAS
America's eco-kids keep a keen eye on their parents
Connecticut high court rules same-sex couples can marry
McCain attacks Obama for supposed ties to '60s radical
Ailing U.S. economy brings fears of a crime wave
Kim Chan, actor in diverse Asian roles
2 endorsements of nuclear power, but sharp differences on details
Colorado to review how it purges voters' names
U.S. Senate panel to study military eavesdropping
Peru's prime minister quits in cabinet shakeup
Bush vows to maintain Cuba embargo
Connecticut overturns ban on same-sex marriage
U.N. warns hungry Haitians could cause more unrest
Connecticut court allows gay marriage
Stronger Hurricane Norbert heads for Mexico's Baja
Drug hitmen kill 11 in bar in Mexico
Nicaragua's Ortega says crisis is God punishing U.S.
Peruvian guerrillas kill 12 soldiers
Palin and aides pressed for trooper's removal
Obama, purse swelling, plans half-hour tv ad
Fictitious donors found in campaign finance records
Native American tribes see profit in wind power
Obama and McCain clash over economy
In dozens of calls, Palins and aides pressed for trooper's removal
Chavez says Russia's Medvedev to visit Venezuela

ASIA PACIFIC
Scarred by past woes, Japan sees U.S. bailout as a first step
NATO allows strikes on Afghan drug sites
U.S. and India sign nuclear deal
Suicide attack on Pakistani tribal council kills 20
Thai protest leaders freed from jail
Indonesian officials unveil a deal to protect forests
U.S. closer to nuclear deal with North Korea
U.S. and India sign civil nuclear cooperation agreement
U.S. seen likely to remove NKorea from blacklist
Suicide bomber kills Afghan provincial official
Five Chinese children killed by falling crane
NATO allies reach deal on attacking Taliban drug trade
China threatens to "out" milk offenders
U.S. may soon remove NKorea from blacklist
Brother of Afghan president to give up seat in Parliament
Thai protest leaders get bail as campaign rolls on
Afghanistan violence seen to be worsening


EUROPE
Nobel Peace Prize is quiet diplomat's latest reward
U.K. reports new data loss for 100,000 military staff
Europe confirms Russian pullback
Georgian refugees begin to return home
Nuclear aid by Russian to Iranians suspected
Libya to withdraw $7 billion of assets from Swiss banks
Ukraine will hold snap elections
Punishment for a prisoner in Russia
Pope defends Pius's efforts during World War II
France withdraws contaminated Chinese sweets
U.S. says Russia would not cut off gas to Europe
Experts say Brazil-France defence pact wrong choice
U.N. warns Congo fighting could spark wider conflict
EU's Solana confirms Russia withdrawal in Georgia
Russia approves loan plan to ease credit crunch
Global mediator Ahtisaari wins Nobel Peace Prize
France says Russia partly meets Georgia ceasefire
CORRECTED - Report blames faulty flaps for Madrid crash
Montenegro recognises Kosovo
Europeans get creative in credit crisis

OPINION
Building a better bailout through ownership
David Brooks: The class war before Palin
Paul Krugman: Moment of truth
An economy you can bank on
Africa's expensive borders
Pius XII and the Holocaust
$700,000,000,000: (That's a lot of zeroes)
Campaign jousting; Blame big government
Here's where the money is

SPORTS
Phillies top Dodgers in Game 1
Facing Boston in Game 1, it's finally Tampa Bay's time
In hard times, who's in the mood for Volvo's high seas adventure?
Hussey century helps Australia expand lead over India
2 Japanese car makers pursue F1 success their own way
Many nations at Beijing Games failed to give data on athletes for drug testing
Tim Montgomery gets 5-year prison term
Ospreys suspend Henson for two matches
Jankovic and Dementieva to meet in Moscow semi
Troubled France coach says not worried by own fate
Cipriani likely beneficiary of Wilkinson injury
Capello left in the dark by new-look Kazakhstan
Injured Schwartzel battles on to share Madrid lead
McLaren withdraws from South African squad
Terry out of England game
Hussey century helps Australia score 430
Reuters resumes Australia tour coverage
Loeb takes early lead in Corsica and Sordo crashes out
Ecclestone says Indian GP will be in 2011
Sebastian Vettel's bright future is now
Safety first can also mean last
Silencing skeptics, Phillies rally to top Dodgers
Hamilton sets early pace in Japan practice
Africa's qualifying race down to 20 by Sunday
England flyhalf Wilkinson ruled out for five months
Stanford Twenty20 match to go ahead
Motor neurone worry hangs over Italian game
ANC to consult before decision on Springbok emblem
Croatia moves to rid sport of violence
Basketball ready for lift-off in Britain
English Premier League chief says game is sustainable
Rooney says he was at his best in Croatia

Your Money



I always say this, but particularly in the context of this posting, read a more thematic, paradox searching, connecting the dots, story based narrative of Friday 10th October, based on the above material, at A Place in the Auvergne (Friday, 1oth October 2008).


Plus it has pretty pictures if you're stuck in an office on a glorious autumnal day.

READ AN ALTERNATIVE IHT DAILY NARRATIVE AT
A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE

International Herald Tribune
IHT
New York Times
NYT

Vacation /Business Trip Furnished Apartment in Paris