New Mexico Press Assn errorfest

 Among member newspapers, it lists on its website the Lincoln County News out of Carrizozo.

Problem?

Oh, just a small one.

The link is to the Lincoln County, MAINE newspapers.

In reality, the Carrizozo paper closed years ago and Gannett's Ruidoso paper sucks.

Other eyebrow raisers? Is the Gallup Sun really a member but the Independent is not? If that's actually the case, what's the story behind that.

Then, there's their job bank. Roswell Daily Record was looking for an ME as of end of May. Job not listed.

Of course, when much of the upper Rio Grande is under the thumb of the Albuquerque Journal's parent while Gannett/Craphouse continues to wreck multiple southern-half papers, what can you say?

The Texas Observer: still treading water, still pretending otherwise

 More than a year after nearly imploding itself to death, the Observer (under an interim executive director; I don't know if the last permanent one quit at some other time, or got shit-canned at the same time as editor-in-chief Gabriel Arana did) pretends it's back to normal by passing out Molly Awards. (Aug. 10: They now have a cartoon Molly introducing the most recent Strangest State piece.)

First, per Jim Hightower, how much of a real populist are you if you go to Smith College, re Molly Ivins?

Second, weren't these awards in the past, passed out in the fall?

Third, per my first link on what's wrong with the Observer business-wise, there's still no paywall and still no ads, and surely still hypocrisy about the latter. What's to celebrate?

Fourth, they've got Gus Bova as Arana's interim replacement.

Goddamit I'm agreeing with Jeff Jarvis

But, he's RIGHT. These "media bailout laws," to call them what they are, in Canada, California and New York, and possibly elsewhere in the future? They're pushed by big legacy newspaper companies. You know, the ones being raped by the hedge funds that own them.

They do nothing for your community newspaper, your start-up, your nonprofit newspaper, etc. (AdCouncil advertising, like "This is your brains on newspapers," per the old over-fried egg of "this is your brain on drugs," is one idea that would actually do that.)

And, carve-out loopholes like that in New Jersey make clear who's pushing this stuff.

AP hedges its bets on "we don't need McClatchy and Gannett"

A few months ago, when the two chains said they were either pretty much or entirely spitting the bit on using Associated Press services, the AP said, in essence, "good luck and we don't need them."

Among claims at that time was that the AP only got 10 percent of its bucks from traditional wire feed money.

Er, not zacktly, as AP itself admitted earlier this week.

That 10 percent is from US newspapers only. The total? A "biiitttt" different:

In 2023, 82% of AP’s revenue came from content licensing with 5% from its software solutions business AP Workflow Solutions, 4% from its business providing broadcast facilities and journalists to global broadcasters, and 9% from other streams.

Wow.

No wonder AP, after hinting a few months ago that "don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out," is now going Tom Bodett and saying "we'll keep the light on," to translate chief revenue officer Kristin Heitmann:

Heitmann said: “Gannett and McClatchy are important customers for the AP and we never like to lose customers. We are in contract through the end of this year and hope they remain customers of ours for many years to come – and certainly will in some way through the election and beyond in other services we provide.”

She added that “thousands of media” around the world use AP content and they “sometimes test not using us and come back. If that’s the case with Gannett and McClatchy, we have an open door…”

Something tells me that things like that e-commerce biz AP plans probably won't play out well, and will also raise issues about the First Amendment of Journalism's "wall of separation" between editorial and advertising. You gonna do an investigative journalism piece on something you're touting?

Of course, it was running semi-fake news on its website already seven years ago. (That was with Taboola just like the e-commerce dreck, which means AP's been semi-full of itself for years.) Don't forget, AP self-screwed its pooch back in the 1990s when then-board chairman Dean-o Singleton touted the "teevee model" of online advertising.

Of further interest? A year or two ago, the Salt Lake City Trib dumped the AP for: The NYT's wire. If that now includes The Athletic on sports, too?