A business model built on intransigence

A lot is being written about CNN's intentions on being a wire service to newspapers.

On Twitter yesterday, media strategist and all-around digital news pioneer Steve Yelvington said:

Am I supposed to take CNN seriously as a potential newswire? It keeps Lou Dobbs and Nancy Grace, fires Miles O'Brien and sci/tech team.

(More on the Miles O'Brien layoff.)

Well, there's that. Doug Page (link via ejeffreys) has thoughts on what it'll take to take on the Associated Press on its home turf.

Page defines the AP's business model as:  "extortionary pricing for no or damn little customer service in return and a state report that's as good as what the 'members' contribute because the AP can't be bothered to do much original reporting - is finally obsolete."

But of the prospect of newspapers rising up and bolting, Page says:

"The newspaper industry is filled with intransigence, which prevents it from taking the actions it needs to take to remain a healthy, viable industry. Newspaper executives will sing CNN's praises publicly, but whether they'll actually sign contracts for the network's news wire is an entirely different matter."

Below is some of the recent coverage:

• Marketplace: CNN makes a play on AP's turf
• CNN Wire could be a game changer - Lost Remote TV Blog
• New Newswires Will Save Newspapers / Jossip
• CNN Will Crush the AP 'Because They Can' -- Daily Intel -- New York News Blog -- New York Magazine
• CNN Gears Up to Take On the AP | Epicenter from Wired.com
• TV Barn | AP teaches CNN about ego and arrogance
• High Wire Act | Culture11
• AP Boss: CNN Wire Service Is 'Remarkably, Abysmally Written'
• Associated Press: Shrinking A.P. Calls CNN's Wire Service 'Abysmally Written'
• CNN Pitches a Cheaper Wire Service to Newspapers - NYTimes.com
• knoxnews.com | The Upfront Page | CNN's plan to launch a newspaper wire

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Sept. 1942: Copy boy about to tear off dispatch coming over Associated Press.Wire room of the New York Times newspaper. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection Photo, Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Washington, D.C.