I am sure that everyone here has heard about what is happening with the Associated Press and their lack of willingness to allow bloggers to quote their articles.  The Blade has blogged about it, I have blogged about it and so have others right here on The Nexus (or Lockergnome for those who do not remember The Nexus).  Has anyone actually asked why the Associated Press is doing this, could they have a valid reason?

The traditional practice of journalism also requires that you ask a source’s permission to quote them. Nick never asked my permission - he assumed he didn’t have to, because I had already published what he was quoting. And yet he doesn’t cite the post or even name my blog. It’s like he’s quoting me, personally, yet also citing a published source. When I first saw the quote, my gut reaction was to feel annoyed that Nick didn’t ask my permission, although technically he didn’t have to. Sources have forever complained about journalists quoting them out of context, and that’s exactly how I felt - yet if there had been a link, or a URL in print, I don’t think I would have felt that way. 

Link Connecting the Dots of the Web Revolution — Publishing 2.0

The article goes in depth about what exactly this has to do with the Associated Press, but I will save you a bit of a read (but if you have time read it, it is a great article).  The AP says we cannot quote them, but yet they can quote our blogs for their articles, hmm?  Doesn’t that sound a bit odd?

This is causing a bit of controversy because some bloggers are now demanding that the AP pay them for all the times that they have been quoted in articles.  What is fair in this case?  Well, the AP opened up this can of worms a few days ago when they had to let everyone know of their genius idea.

What the AP is doing simply won’t work; they cannot limit our free speech as The Blade says in his post (linked above).  However, it is time to take a side: are you going to ignore the AP or are you going to try and milk them for all they are worth?  Turning to them and asking for money is giving them a taste of their own medicine but it is also a very dirty tactic in war.

Justin Capasso