| October 20, 2007
Ben Marrison
Editor
The Columbus Dispatch
Dear Ben:
Before too much more time passes, I wanted to correct a few
things that came up in the
Maine Press Association meeting and in today’s New York
Times article.
AP absolutely values the stories and photos that members
contribute to the wire. At the same time, AP staff is working
hard to round out those contributions with stories that haven’t
been reported elsewhere. Therefore, I don’t think it’s
fair to say that AP’s Ohio report is a “batch
of rewrites from the biggest papers'' as you said at the MPA
meeting. During a recent two-month period, for example, AP
staffers in Ohio produced at least 52 stories that the metros
also wrote on either the same day or days later, or didn’t
have at all. A few, and by no means all, examples:
- On Oct. 13, The Columbus Dispatch wrote about the potential
impact of a third-party candidate on the outcome of the
15th congressional district race in Ohio, a story that AP’s
statehouse correspondent wrote a month earlier, on Sept.
11.
- On Aug. 13, AP described how Barack Obama hopes to take
advantage of a six-day window that allows voters to register
in Ohio and then immediately cast a ballot. Two major Ohio
metros used the AP story on their Web sites, then matched
it.
- AP’s Cincinnati sports writer broke the news about
the Reds’ signing their No. 1 draft choice nearly
20 minutes ahead of the announcement and was first to report
details on the contract.
- The Cleveland AP was first to report confirmation of the
Cleveland Indians trade of C.C. Sabathia to the Milwaukee
Brewers.
- The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer followed AP’s report
on a new surgical technique in kidney transplants at the
Cleveland Clinic and cited AP for patient quotes.
Your assertion at the MPA meeting that the OHNO papers are
using seven to eight stories per day from the other dailies
doesn’t jibe with our research. Reviewing usage in July
and August, we found that The Dispatch used 56 stories from
OHNO and The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer published 52 stories
- excluding game coverage – averaging less than one
story per day. In fact, an editor at one of the eight metros
said they see material from OHNO as “filler.”
The New York Times article today indicates that Ohio editors
believe the AP has cut back on a lot of routine, breaking
news. In fact, since Oct. 1 we’ve moved 256 APNewsNows,
brief spot stories for member Web sites as well as print editors,
or an average of 13 items per day.
Your “joke” at MPA about plagiarism stems from
a mischaracterization of how AP operates. In cases where the
story is a rewrite from one paper, we include a tagline at
the end of the story with the paper’s name and Web address.
In cases of enterprise, scoops or anonymously sourced material,
the newspaper name is included in the body of the copy. This
is not plagiarism, a serious allegation to make against any
news organization, and not something to joke about.
Finally, 53 papers in Ohio (60 percent of the total AP membership)
have signed contracts to
participate in AP Marketplace. Editors tell us they are eager
to begin sharing prep and small-college sports as well as
local news of interest to other papers around the state. And,
nearly 600 newspapers around the country have signed up for
Marketplace.
As you can see with Marketplace, AP encourages member-to-member
sharing. We think it’s beneficial to the cooperative.
And, unlike similar efforts with third-party platforms, the
material from members in Marketplace is incorporated into
the search criteria, making it easier to find stories relevant
to your local market.
Finally, your comments in today’s New York Times that
The Dispatch pays $800,000 for AP is accurate, but, as a reminder,
we are cutting your rates for 2009 – up to 12 percent
with Breaking News and the full Content Enrichment discount.
II would be happy to discuss any of these specifics with
you at your convenience.
Sincerely,
Eva Parziale
AP Chief of Bureau, Ohio
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