’)AP sent a cease and desist to one of its member organizations for posting a video from AP’s Youtube channel that AP didn’t know about. No wonder their business model of the future is suing everyone. It’s the last resort of the stupid in mainstream media.
In its quest to become the RIAA of the newspaper industry, the A.P.’s executives and lawyers are beginning to match their counterparts in the music industry for cluelessness. A country radio station in Tennessee, WTNQ-FM, received a cease-and-desist letter from an A.P. vice president of affiliate relations for posting videos from the A.P.’s official Youtube channel on its Website.
“you’re learning, grasshopper”-RIAA to AP
The AP’s CEO Tom Curley says that he “knows” where the market is going in an interview with Charlie Rose and Arianna Huffington.
It puts a face to the AP’s new policies and their change in editorial “tone” during the 2008 election.
While correlation isn’t causation, the Associated Press’s credibility has really taken a spanking ever since Rupert Murdoch was put on their board. (Tribune corp owner Zell was put on the AP’s board as well.)
Both Ariana and the AP’s Tom Curley make some interesting points but Ariana comes off much better while Curley comes off la bit like crusty, curmudgeonly Jack Valenti of the MPAA at his worst: stuck in the past and ready to use litigation to stop the future.
In the context of the AP not understanding how YouTube works, it’s funny to hear Arianna repeatedly talk about “embeddable [video] players” and how it can be monetized. Curley got schooled, but like a conservative stuck in the past, Curley appeared impervious to the schooling.
His business model appears to entirely repudiate the idea of “fair use” exemptions.
Reading between the lines, some of the things that might be inferred he’s saying are really insidious.