This is an early indication that troubled times are to come
2 Likes
that news (as in news not uncle rupert’s company) can no longer be free or ad supported.
basically it’s like a new mine line, it will be stopped for investigation should something be found in the earth that does not belong there, in this case reported doing work for AAP are the canary in the mine line and as such all work has been stopped.
This one bites the big one badly as it will mean that free sites for news and community / international papers / media will now have to get news sourced from other providers or in terms of sport go without as there wont be anyone there to report about what is going on.
2 Likes
this one bites badly.
Apparently NINE publishing is the main reason as they are no longer going to fund it, makes sense as previously Fairfax was cutting back as much as it could before it eventually had to merge I mean get taken over by Nine Ent Co in the end.
This now leaves Uncle Ruptert’s News Corp in a no win situation as they are the last remaining major hard copy national publisher … I wonder how Uncle Rupert will respond to this … jack up prices?
Includes a brief history of the agency (AAP was formed by the merger of two smaller wire services in 1935).
2 Likes
But it’s hardly the first. Newspapers have been in perpetual decline for the better part of a decade at least. By no means am I trying to argue this isn’t a significant loss for Australian journalism - far from it - but it’s disingenuous for industry lobby groups and the MEAA to treat it like the battle is just beginning.
The battle was lost as soon as commercial publishers began offering their content for free online without diversifying their revenue sources. It’s 20+ years of decisions and strategies coming back to bite them - News, WAN, Nine - on the arse.
3 Likes
It is believed AAP’s shareholders, which also include Kerry Stokes’s Seven, were unhappy at paying millions to keep the company going while non-shareholder subscribers paid far lower fees for the same service.
1 Like
The Australia reports that ACCC will investigate the closure of AAP
Meanwhile AAP made a profit last year and claims are " Murdoch and Nine deliberately killed AAP to hurt their rivals and crush media diversity. "
2 Likes
It’s not just the likes of The Guardian which will suffer from AAP’s closure, the locally-published foreign language papers and magazines around Australia, which rely heavily on AAP content, will also be affected. That’s not what Nine and News Corp will have expected.
1 Like
2 Likes
The SMH:
And the Daily Mail, Guardian, Verizon (aka Yahoo) and ACM have reportedly discussed sharing resources to cover court reporting and photos.
2 Likes
So Campbell Reid was full of shit after all according to this morning’s Australian. https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/internal-newswire-on-cards-at-news-corp-after-aaps-demisse/news-story/9021f53c7ec57d85a1a08249241d35c9
(Disclaimer: it’s News Corp reporting on News Corp, so your mileage may vary)
1 Like
Employing sacked AAP journos on less pay?
It’s the News Corp way, and people still support this lousy company.
2 Likes
I’ll post this here since it’s somewhat applicable -
apparently their is a huge rift that has formed between Nine and News Corp, big enough to cause all sorts of headaches for the forth coming NRL season.
This AAP thing could be part of the reason why News and Nine are no longer on friendly terms.
3 Likes
Don’t Nine and News Corp (through Foxtel) share the NRL rights? The rift may be on print journalists covering the matches.
Correct. News are very twitchy at Hugh’s combined business and his more versatile way of doing business.
Of course, it’s the wrong focus to have, fighting over the crumbs instead of looking at how to modernise and manage the overseas giants.
3 Likes
I have asked and the reply I received was News Corp wanted to expand its reach into 3rd party media with a more direct way rather than through AAP.
For Nine it was the fact that Seven put pressure on the AAP business and that Nine now which includes the former Fairfax wants to limit “reach” of 3rd party groups in their publications.
Where the NRL come into is how does News and Nine media reps co-exist in a medium where 3rd party media now has no longer has a direct line via AAP?
1 Like
I wouldnt be surprised if this is also a dig at ACM who rely heavily on AAP content for non-local stuff
2 Likes
A supposed glimmer of hope.
5 Likes
A small light perhaps at the end of the tunnel and it would be good if it can be pulled off.
4 Likes