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?