Eric Kaiser

Our Executive Editor, Rex Rhoades and I had the good fortune to be part of the CNN Newspaper Summit in Atlanta December 1-3.  The purpose of the summit was to discuss the possibility of a CNN wire service for newspapers. This proposition came at a crucial time for newspapers.

The Associated Press was raising its rates for newspapers in 2009. Not what the industry needed when layoffs are running rampandt and newspapers are trying to make ends meet. Many newspapers are faced with cutting jobs or continuing their AP service. And the kicker is that if you wanted out of your AP contract you have to give a two year notice.

The view outside my hotel room.

Upon arrival we were shown to our room at the Omni in downtown Atlanta, which is adjacent to CNN World Headquarters.   My room overlooked a park across the street all decked out for Christmas. I was very impressed. That evening there was a reception and dinner in the atrium of their World Headquarters. We got a chance to meet some of the on-air personalities and other staff of CNN.
The first impression I got from every person we met is they are all on the same page and enthusiastic about this new venture. They were genuinely interested in what we wanted out of a news service.

The next day was a combination of us getting to know CNN and them getting to know us and our needs. They weren’t actually presenting any real solutions at this point.

We got to meet their political team which is headed by John King, who it turns out comes from a print background and was excited about writing copy for their news service. Very bright and articulate. I enjoyed his reports election night. I was really impressed with the touch screen they were using that night. It was like one big iPhone. Very cool. The rest of the team was equally impressive.

Fast forward towards the end of the day and we get into the meat of the meeting. What are they prepared to offer? Basically CNN was offering up their national and international news to newspapers. Which sounded good given that they have some 22 offices around the world. However there were some pretty big holes to fill.

The quantity of stories wasn’t there, and there were no photos. CNN realized this would be a problem, but I don’t think they realized just how important this was. It was very clear by the end of the day this was a show stopper. (Note: they are supplying photos now).

Will CNN’s wire service replace AP? Not at this point and time. The President of CNN Worldwide, Jim Walton, concluded the Summit by saying very clearly that CNN’s wire service is not a replacement for AP. I think all of us were really hoping it would be, and it would cost substantially less. It certainly looks like it could fill the national and international news gaps, but there isn’t a lot of regional and state news (Maine in our case). Perhaps this is a better solution in larger markets.

There’s still a lot of uncertainty about AP. They are releasing a new pricing structure in June. We are all waiting to see what that’s all about before making any further moves. It’s possible that many newspapers can get rid of AP and pull together content from other sources such as McClatchy, PA Sports Ticket and KRT to name a few. But until June, I think we’re all just waiting on AP to see if they respond responsibly to newspaper’s needs.

FYI – the AP rates at the Sun Journal have gone down for 2009 according to a VP from AP that just called me about this blog post. Glad to see somebody is noticing my blog ;+)