Opinion: Reuters-Politico content sharing deal "should worry the AP"

Posted by Lauren Drablier on December 16, 2008 at 11:14 AM

According to FollowtheMedia, the recently announced content sharing deal between Reuters and Politico could prove to be underestimated. FTM predicts that it is a deal that should "really worry the Associated Press" and that CNN's proposed wire service "should now just fade away."

Reuters and the AP are the most popular news agencies, however, Reuters is used mainly outside of the United States. The deal with Politico will now introduce Reuters to the American newspaper market, which could severely hurt the AP. The AP has recently been suffering from declining subscriptions due to a number of issues.

The Reuters-Politico combo provides newspapers with access to both Reuters and Politico coverage. FTM questions, "why would anyone want some 30 CNN stories a day when newspapers can have Politico and Reuters news and pictures?"

In addition, Christoph Pleitgen, the managing director of Reuters told FTM that in the coming months "Reuters will be introducing several new video products" which are "all important for newspaper web sites that must have video in order to attract more and more online viewers."

FTM believes that this deal "could indeed be the US opening that Reuters executives have for so many years been searching" and that "for the AP, it couldn't come at a worse time."

Sources: FollowtheMedia via Journalism.co.uk