The Associated Press says it is working with news providers to create a new rights clearinghouse that will enable broader and better access to original news reporting. The AP said it is also working on new apps for news providers.
The AP Board of Directors directed the organization to proceed with creation of an independent agency at its quarterly meeting last week and AP President and CEO Tom Curley announced the plan at the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association meeting in Austin, Texas.
“The clearinghouse will answer a need we heard from multiple businesses for an efficient mechanism to access content from a range of news providers for a variety of uses,” Curley said. “This extends to the news industry an approach that has worked successfully in other industries with similar challenges around digital usage.”
At the same time, the AP said it is also expanding its development of white label apps and content modules for the growing array of handheld devices.
“Both of these initiatives address immediate, crucial needs of the news industry. They offer new revenue possibilities as news consumption patterns increasingly fragment,” said Curley.
More than 70 AP member newspaper and broadcasters have already gone live with white label smart-phone apps developed by AP, in conjunction with Verve Wireless Inc. AP also is working on private label iPad applications.
Under the rights clearinghouse plan, AP and other news organizations would establish a separate entity that would provide rights clearance and privacy tools; a variety of ways to license content from publishers; and media intelligence services that would give insights to businesses about consumption of news content.
