AP's Loss and HuffPost's Gain

(MoneyWatch)  It would be hard to find two items that, when juxtaposed, better capture the zeitgeist in the media industry than these two from this morning's emailbag:

1. Metro USA, which publishes daily titles in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, has terminated its contract with the Associated Press effective April 1, 2009. Jim Romenesko reports in his Poynter blog: "As an international newspaper and one of the world's largest news organizations with more than 600 journalists on staff, Metro benefits from use of its 84 daily editions worldwide to provide up-to-minute global news coverage."

As noted here last October, the AP has been steadily losing newspaper customers, as the industry shakeout causes paper after paper to cut costs, lay off staff, and retrench quickly in a battle for survival. I believe that the news service itself may join the endangered species list over the coming year or two, since its model relies on subscription revenues from companies that are in increasingly fragile financial condition.

2. Meanwhile, the Huffington Post has launched its investigative journalism arm. This has been in the works for while, as we noted in a post last November. According to David Bauder, on the HuffPost site, the top U.S. political blog is collaborating with the "Atlantic Philanthropies and other donors to launch the Huffington Post Investigative Fund with an initial budget of $1.75 million. That should be enough for 10 staff journalists who will primarily coordinate stories with freelancers..."

What separate trajectories these organizations are on! As the AP and traditional outlets nosedive, the HuffPost and many blog sites continue to mushroom in growth. As the poet noted: You don't need a weather man...To know which way the wind blows.