Editors Call CNN Wire Newspaper 'Summit' A 'Success'

By: Joe Strupp CNN's multi-day pitch to newspapers this week for its new wire service appears to be a success, according to several editors and publishers who attended.

They said few specifics were presented, but welcomed that approach as CNN executives spent more time asking them what they wanted before presenting a formal newspaper package.

No pricing plans were put forth, according to those who attended the three-day summit in Atlanta from Monday to Wednesday. CNN officials said more formal proposals and packages would likely not be presented until after the new year.

Some attendees to the all-expenses-paid gathering said they would like to see more extensive photo options and more specifics on national, international and breaking news.

Still, most welcomed the opportunity and believe CNN could play a future role in their outside news source plans.

"They showed us the inner workings of the operation, how careful they are with accuracy and the things that are important to us," said Ben Marrison, editor of The Columbus Dispatch, one of about 30 newspapers with representatives at the event. "We have not been able to look at the active wire process. They were mainly looking for feedback from us on what they needed, they were open to questions from us and they were somewhat amenable to adjusting to what we needed."

Marrison, one of several editors who have complained about Associated Press's new rates and ongoing service, said for CNN to succeed with newspapers it would have to offer national and regional reporting, photo services, and breaking news.

"They have the full complement of video, which is already available," he added.

Jean Dubail, assistant managing editor/online for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, said his paper has been using some CNN wire service on a trial basis. He said the presentation was positive.

"They had pretty much all of their big guns there." he said, citing on-air personalities such as John King and Gloria Borger. "They rolled out how the wire has worked internationally, with some written by on-air staff. Most of the day was spent talking about what it would take to turn it into something we could use."

But, he added, "they said several times they had no wish to replace AP."

As the summit took place, AP sent a strong message to its members on Monday promoting its services.

That notice, from Tom Brettingen, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing and Chief Revenue Officer, said in part: "The Associated Press is the gold standard in global journalism. AP has 243 bureaus in 97 countries, and is the largest global news network in the world. AP?s video newsgathering agency, APTN, is the world?s leading provider of news video. AP state and regional news coverage is unparalleled in the United States in size and scope."

Roger Plothow, editor and publisher of The Post Register in Idaho Falls, called the Atlanta gathering, "quite encouraging."

"They really didn?t have a completely developed proposal; in fact, they had no proposal at all," he said. "Two-thirds of the day was spent asking -- what do you think of this? What do you think of that? Given the history of AP, which has not done that, this was the right thing to do."

Plothow, whose paper is among dozens who have given two-year notice to AP to potentially drop the service, said CNN needs to have as much national and international news available as possible, along with photos. "They are only talking about having a comparative handful of national, international and feature stories a day. They are not swapping out a lot of stuff with other places."

For Rex Rhoades, executive editor of the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine -- who gave his notice to AP just last month -- CNN Wire's potential was promising. He sees it as one of several alternatives he could use to replace AP.

"I would see them as an interesting component of a package of services that could replace AP for us," said Rhoades, who notes the new AP rate structure would save him $16,000 per year, but leave him with a $136,000 annual AP bill. "That still represents maybe three reporter jobs here."

Also noting a need for more photo options, Rhoades said he was "impressed with the willingness and eagerness of CNN to have us as a customer. AP has never sought that kind of input from us."

After the three-day event, CNN officials also called it a success. Susan Grant, CNN executive vice-president, said in an e-mail: "There was a wide breadth of newspaper expertise present ? large and small, family owned, regionally diverse group ? and they have different needs. It was exciting to engage with members of the newspaper community who do not know us and to share what we do and how we do it.

"What seemed to resonate was that there is a significant amount of written material coming out of CNN each day which powers our websites and networks. It was a very open and candid discussion."

As for the future, she added: ?Our next steps are to take the feedback we received earlier this week and see if what CNN can offer is a good match for newspapers. We believe that we have a product that is different from all the other wires services, that is unique to CNN, and that may be useful to newspapers across the country.

?Over the coming weeks, we will have to put together a rate card and then we would, as a starting point, look to find a handful of newspapers to begin a relationship with.?