It is well known that traditional media sources are in trouble, largely due to the rise of the internet and what that is doing to their business model. You might think that the media would at least try to understand their biggest competitor. But you would be wrong, as evidenced by this recent epic fail on the part of the Associated Press, the news agency that is cooperatively owned by its contributing US newspapers, radio, and television stations (you know, kinda like how the RIAA supposedly works for recording artists).
It seems that the A.P. recently ordered radio station KTNQ-FM to stop posting A.P. videos on its website, accusing the station of “stealing their licensed content”. But there are a few things that are a bit curious about this. First, all of the videos in question were from the A.P.’s official YouTube channel (yes, the A.P. has its own YouTube channel, at http://www.youtube.com/user/AssociatedPress). Even worse, at the time, this channel had the YouTube “embed code” turned on, so that anyone could embed the A.P. videos in their website.
But the real giggle comes from the fact that KTNQ-FM is an A.P. affiliate. The whole purpose of the A.P. is to create content for its affiliates, who after all are the owners of the A.P. Here’s a quote from the station employee who talked to the A.P.’s vice president:
We’re an A.P. affiliate for crying out loud! I stumped him on that one. … What is really shocking is that they were shocked that they’ve got a YouTube channel that people are embedding on their Websites. He seemed shocked by that. “Oh, I am going to have to look into that” is what he told me.
When you’re this clueless about the “innerTubes”, is it any wonder it is eating your lunch?
