Should the AP and CNN See You as Their Competitor?

The New York Times reports today that CNN is looking to compete with the embattled Associated Press, inviting some 30 newspapers to come to its Atlanta headquarters this week for a look at CNN Wire, its lower-cost alternative to the AP. It's hard to argue with the logic that having become a news brand in TV, radio and online, CNN might be poised to establish itself as an AP rival. It certainly has the reach, and the resources from its multiple revenue streams, to be a viable competitor. But while a good idea in the short-term, is the very idea of the wire service becoming antiquated as the voice of citizen-journalists becomes ever stronger?

Case in point: last week's horrendous terror attacks in Mumbai, which, like other recent news stories, were pointed to as a breakthrough for social media reportage. Like it or not, we consumers are getting in the habit of scouring social media for news, and that makes the market for expensive, professionally-created content smaller. Many of us would just as soon monitor Twitter for you-are-there updates from citizen journalists than we would wait around for carefully-vetted (and, yes, more accurate) stories that adhere to strict journalistic standards.

AP CEO Tom Curley has apparently told employees that "The current CNN wire, if you look at it truly is still, and remarkably, abysmally written." But maybe in making the argument that quality matters, he's missing the point. The AP may be concerned about CNN as a competitor, but the real competitor to both is the average citizen, cell phone in hand, who is in the process of shooting video of a newsworthy event and uploading it to YouTube.