AP CEO addresses "institutional arrogance" of newspapers

NEW YORK - "Tom Curley, CEO of The Associated Press, called on news executives Thursday to "stop pining" for the past and adapt to the new ways that news is being distributed and consumed.

• Curley said in a speech that news organizations should quit thinking like gatekeepers of information and reach out to people who are accustomed to receiving news in real time online and customizing the ways they see and read it.

"The first thing that has to go is the attitude," Curley said. "Our institutional arrogance has done more to harm us than any portal."

• Curley has led AP, a news cooperative owned by its 1,500 daily U.S. newspaper members, since 2003. He called on traditional media companies to cooperate more with online portals such as Yahoo Inc. and said there was still a place for "appointment media" such as evening newscasts or home-delivered newspapers, "but it is a smaller place.""

AP Business Story by Seth Sutel published on Yahoo.com, 11/2/07, "AP Urges News Industry to Embrace Online." Via poynter.org/Romenesko

• AP supplies sports news as well as traditional news. They do not allow their writers to vote on post season baseball awards, which is a good start for a news or journalistic organization. (sm)

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