If Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama really want to take the Democratic nomination, they need to score 2,024 delegates, a figure that includes pledged delegates and superdelegates, to amass the insurmountable total that would force the other out of the race.
Why, then, can no single news source agree on how many total delegates either candidate was won?
• MSNBC: Obama 1,720, Clinton 1,588
• ABC: Obama 1,706, Clinton 1,576
• CBS: Obama 1,704, Clinton 1,580
• AP: Obama 1,694, Clinton 1,561
• CNN: Obama 1,685, Clinton 1,544
With all those giant interactive television screens and, you know, an third grader's math skills, shouldn't these numbers be pretty much locked down?
The Associated Press is trying to become your cable company: Overcharging you for the services you do want by tacking on tons of unnecessary and unwanted options that you don't have a choice in refusing.
The wire service took another round of beatings over its rate hikes, announced last year, at yesterday's Capital Conference media convention, where AP prez Tom Curley's appearance was followed by a vocal group of editors expressed their discontent. Not only do they want to see about a 30 percent reduction in charges, but they're also after transparency: "Susan Goldberg, editor of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, also cited the lack of response to editors’ concerns. 'As of even late last night, we were turned down flat,' she said. 'We do want to understand what each other is paying.'"
Added Boston Globe editor Martin Baron later on: CONTINUED »
In case the paparazzization of the Associated Press didn't have you worried about one of the world's most ubiquitous news services, perhaps its new hires will. Sam Zell and Rupert Murdoch are both joining the AP's board, it was announced today at a meeting where chairman William Dean Singleton mixed up "Osama" with "Obama."
The duo have been elected to three year terms, which is more than enough time for Rupert to BlackBerry Messenger Sam underneath the board room table with tips about how to swindle David Geffen into buying the Los Angeles Times.
That, or to chuckle about the New York Press' Wall Street Journal parody. CONTINUED »
Bilal Hussein, Associated Press photographer and guest of the U.S. Military, has been ordered released, courtesy new amnesty laws, after being held for two years in an Iraqi prison on trumped up terrorism charges. [AP]
Forgive the Associated Press for only yesterday getting around to covering the "King Kong" controversy surrounding LeBron James' appearance on the cover of Vogue. After all, they only announced themselves as celebrity obsessed on Friday.
Getty veteran Guinevere Smith is named the Associated Press' nat'l entertainment photo editor, which means she's the one to call when your paparazzi agency gets into a car accident with the AP. CONTINUED »
With PageSix.com now completely offline, who's going to step up battle TMZ? The AP!
The Associated Press has long been looking to be part of The Britney Spears Economy in a more in-depth way. And now they will: Twenty-one new hires will take over New York, Los Angeles, and London to broaden the wire's entertainment coverage. But it's not like they're en route to becoming a frilly paparazzi and news service, you see — they're "not about gossip, unnamed sources and innuendo or about 'peephole' journalism with AP photographers becoming paparazzi."
What, they're going to use our favorite excuse of covering the paparazzi as an excuse to tail Posh and Becks?
If it sounds like the new, most costly AP is simply moving to where the dollars are, you're right. Its failed costly youth-oriented premium service "asap" (yes, in lowercase) bombed and was quickly dissolved. So why will this move be different?
Because they're not going after a niche market. Everybody loves celebrities like everybody loves Raymond.
So will publicists have yet another battlefield on their hand? Not according to AP entertainment director Daniel Becker, whose staff memo says, "In a realm in which gossip and innuendo abound, particularly on the Web, our standards establish us as the trusted, authoritative voice on entertainment for all our members and customers."
Basically, they're going to issue a lot of rep-provided denials. And don't we already have a place for that?
Reuters is more than happy to report Rupert Murdoch's Dow Jones is killing off its agreement with the Associated Press after more than a year over haggling on price points. Though the Wall Street Journal will still carry AP copy, every other pub will switch to the French wire Agence France-Presse. Even news can be outsourced overseas.
The New York Post was all too gleeful to share a stash of Ashley Alexandra Dupre photos last week. Then, over the weekend, it issued this notice to web publishers: "First, if you linked to our photo gallery Friday of Ashley 'Kristen' Dupre, thank you. Second, we wanted to let you know that our rights to those photos expired tonight so the link no longer works. We apologize if this causes any problems for you."
Who gets to claim rights to Dupre's photos? The media at large might argue: nobody. The girl's connection to Eliot Spitzer makes her newsworthy, as do photos of her; they're not just pretty visualizations of who was doing "unsafe" acts with the ex-governor (as of today!), but what they offer as photo evidence is worth talking about, making the pics themselves newsworthy.
In the case of the Post, the snaps were taken by photographer Wesley Mann; he licensed them to the tabloid. But do they hold newsworthy value? Absolutely: The photos themselves have become the news story.
But in a blanket argument, Dupre's attorney Don Buchwald says he'll go after anyone who published photos of her, even those taken from her MySpace page. He argues: "While the circumstances surrounding Governor Spitzer's resignation are newsworthy, some publications, in violation of journalistic norms, have used the occasion of Gov. Spitzer's political misfortunes as an excuse to exploit Ms. Dupre's persona for commercial purposes."
The Associated Press, meanwhile, isn't agreeing. Says the wire service in a statement: "The Associated Press discussed the photos obtained from the MySpace page in great detail and found that they were newsworthy. We distributed the photos that were relevant to the story. Those photos did not show nudity, nor were they explicit."
Funny, because isn't this the same Associated Press who routinely goes after publishers who run their photos without permission, no matter how newsworthy the pics?
Okay, so we all know that print journalism is sort of dead. Sure, we buy the paper every Sunday, but from California to New York, newspapers are making cuts. We mean that literally. The L.A. Times and the New York Times announced that they were shrinking their staff this week. Meanwhile, the AP has kept virtually the same staff level since 2000.
How? They realized print was dying in the 90s. Back then, the AP began to diversify and invest in broadcast video and online initiatives, while newspapers decided to wait to see how this whole internet thing would play out. As a result, the AP's revenue model doesn't depend on print anymore: Only about 30% of its revenue comes from US papers. The rest is from global broadcast customers, online ventures, international clients and photography. Meanwhile, many newspapers rely on the AP for up to 40% of its copy.
Earlier this year, the AP announced that it was making changes to its pricing structure. According to the AP, the changes would make their services cheaper to newspapers. But according to everyone else, the AP's pricing changes will screw newspapers.
It might be the case, however, that newspapers are just screwed in general. And they're upset the AP isn't going down with them.
The AP isn't exactly rolling dough. Last year, the AP's net income was only $13.3 million. But in the meantime, the AP has invested in financial news and celebrity coverage. And they no longer rely on newspaper to profit from those investment.
Ultimately, the AP isn't going down with the ship. And that is something to hate on.
Remember how, according to Associated Press assistant bureau chief Frank Baker, everything Britney Spears is important now?
How even reporting on other people who report on Britney is worth a byline?
Well now the Associated Press, so stricken with Britney fever, is tailing her like any other ethically questionable photo agency. Yes, kids, the AP is adding "paparazzo" to its superlatives.
When the downfalling pop tart left the UCLA Medical Center yesterday, she received no police escort because, as Capt. Sharyn Buck of the North Hollywood Police explained, "There was no media, no paparazzi, and no need for public safety protection." Except there was!
It wasn't long before her black Mercedes was swarmed with 20-plus paparazzi. And, according to these AP/Dan Steinberg photo credits, the wire service was there too.
To report on other paparazzi, of course.
As of last night's Super Tuesday primaries, Hillary Clinton has 845 delegates on her side, while Barack Obama has 765. Well, that's what the Associated Press would have you believe.
But perhaps the AP is too busy stalking just-released Britney Spears to focus on accuracy, because over at NBC, those numbers change to Clinton's 582 to Obama's 485.
But wait. CNN says Clinton has 818, while Obama has 730.
Errr, but CBS says it's Clinton with 1037, while Obama has 961.
And then there's the New York Times, which says Clinton has 21, and Obama 34.
They can't all be right, so some of them must be wrong. But to be fair to the Times, they haven't updated their count since South Carolina. Which sounds unfair to readers.
The Associated Press has been getting a lot of press of its own lately.
Along with its expanded Britney Spears and Heath Ledger coverage, the AP released a new pricing model that its claims will make its services cheaper for newspapers. Editors have a different read on the plan, and have protested the rate adjustments, which are set for 2009.
In a seemingly separate move, the New York Daily News decided over a year ago, before the new pricing model was announced, that it will cancel its AP service. Why? It’s in protest over AP’s two-year termination policy.
But the Daily News, which just made public its decision, isn’t exactly cutting off all ties with the AP. They’re still going to use the service’s election coverage. And Ed Fay, VP of editorial administration, says, "We hope that over the next several months we can negotiate to maintain our relationship."
More than anything, canceling their plan with the AP a year ago gives the Daily News the ability to actually do so a year from now. And with the new pricing plan, the Daily News might be happy with that option.
The AP didn’t leak an internal memo this time, but it seems like now and for the foreseeable future, virtually everything involving Heath Ledger is a big deal.
The Associated Press ran a lengthy piece explaining why Entertainment Tonight held the tape of Heath Ledger hanging out at a party where there were—get this—drugs. (At moments like this, we’re content with our complete lack of social importance.)
According to the AP, other famous people like Natalie Portman and Sarah Jessica Parker asked ET to have a little class. Apparently those two didn’t get the note about what celebrity reporting is all about: not offending the PR agencies they need to be on good terms with in order to snag access to celebs. Heath's publicist Mara Buxbaum, at I/D PR, emailed fellow PR outfits like PMK-HBH, 42 West, and BWR, a note that called the video "shameful exploitation of the lowest kind"; those firms banded together to effectively threaten a boycott against the CBS-produced tabloid shows unless they pulled the video.
Well, on the plus side, unlike the Britney Spears saga, this story has a foreseeable end. There’s only so much to say about Heath Ledger these days: The dead rarely make news, unless Page Six spots them at a dinner.
If you're the publisher of a mid-size newspaper and you use AP copy, you're in a bit of Catch-22. Having field reporters all over the world is too expensive, but using the wire service's words might soon be out of your price range, too.
In 2009, the AP will unveil a new pricing model that, by the AP's own estimation, will cost the wire service $6 million to $7 million in revenue.
According to AP president Tom Curley, under the new structure, "about 80% [of stories] would get a cutback, 10% will remain the same and 10% would go up."
Which seems great for newspapers that subscribe to the AP, but editors from the Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer and San Diego Union-Tribune, to name a few, see it differently, and have written a letter in protest:
As editors of American newspapers, all of us are managing through difficult times. We are sharply cutting expenses, paring the size of our publications, and reducing staff. We are doing what we must, no matter how difficult.
However, year after year we are confronted with high charges for Associated Press services. Rates for the basic service were stabilized in 2007. Yet rates for supplemental services continue to rise. Also, AP invoices lack detail on how rates are calculated, and our budget-cutting efforts are stymied by onerous cancellation policies.
The AP board is meeting later in the week and plan on discussing this letter, but there's no plan on actually changing anything.
If the AP will, in fact, lose money on this revenue model, it's suspicious they're also ramping up their celebrity coverage. (Or is it that cheap to repurpose TMZ.com posts?)
The wire service is also expanding its campaign coverage with a new multimedia project called "The Measure of a Nation," which will issue a 2,600-word item among its first offerings.
Previous efforts to move beyond simple wire copy, like "asap," its lowercase-named service aimed at younger readers, failed miserably.
As for newspapers, there's always the sometimes-accurate Reuters. Or if things get really desperate, as it looks like they are, papers can go Huffington Post style and get semi-famous people to rant gratis.
"For a growing number of people and businesses," writes the Associated Press' Jeremy Herron, "Britney's saga is about money: Every time she sinks to new lows, cash flows. And these days, no one is above the fray." Not even the Associated Press!
And wouldn't Herron know: His wire service alerted all employees that Britney is a big deal again, even though she's such a wretched mess that that they've already prepped her obit. But there he goes, bouncing between the revenues of the tabloids, celebrity blogs, photo agencies, and entertainment shows — and glossing over any notion that the AP might also be inhaling a slice of the pie.
Who better than the Associated Press – which has already prepared a death notice for Britney Spears – to lead the discussion on pre-written obituaries for young people?
The wire's John Rogers is on the case, quoting, ahem, the AP's sports managing editor Lou Ferrara, who says Anna Nicole Smith's death was a "wake-up call" for media to prepare reports for wild high-profile types, no matter how young.
The AP did not have a pre-written obituary for Smith. They have roughly 1,000 prepared, though few are for people younger than 70.
Famed Washington Post obit scribe Adam Bernstein says he doesn't believe his paper carries any obit for someone younger than 30. (Spears is 26.) The Los Angeles Times's obit editor, Jon Thurber, says they have about 400 prepared; Spears isn't among them.
So what's the ethical boundary for preparing a celebrity's obituary, even if they're too young to run for Senate? Likely, a paper's motivation to be first – and accurate – will outweigh the sicko test. As it should.
SUDDENLY IMPORTANT An internal memo from the Associated Press' Los Angeles assistant bureau chief declares "now and for the foreseeable future, virtually everything involving Britney [Spears] is a big deal." [Gawker]
Let’s take a trip in the way back machine, when George Stephanopoulos was a political consultant, not an ABC correspondent, when weathering marital infidelity was a big deal, not just a sign of character.
Back then, Gennifer Flowers threw a wrench into the 1992 campaign with her whole 12-year affair with Bill Clinton thing. Since then, the Clinton marriage has gotten more “professional” and America has moved on.
Sadly, political catastrophes never really die, they just stop being interviewed. An enterprising reporter over at the A.P. looked up G. Flows, and found she’s both still alive and even considering voting for Hillary:
Sure, the war in Iraq's still going on, the U.S. military is bringing charges against an award-winning A.P. photographer (whom they've imprisoned, without charges, for the past 19 months) and Nancy Grace and her newborn twins are still in precarious condition after complications from childbirth but, more importantly, Mary-Kate Olsen was hospitalized all morning with a "minor" infection.
Olsen reportedly checked into the emergency room of an NYC hospital this morning with a mild kidney infection and is currently "resting comfortably" and slated to be discharged within the next 24 hours.
Meanwhile, she's kept herself busy by not eating the gross hospital, watching Weed reruns – of the episodes she was in – and complaining that the "fugly" (but trendy!) hospital gown "looks like Zac Posen dress" and, even worse, "totally makes [her] look fat."
Editorial Director
