Blogging and the Associated Press - The Pros and Cons
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It isn’t very hard finding the cons in what the Associated Press has done. However, the situation isn’t all doom and gloom. That’s why in this section I will talk about the pros and the cons this occurrence presents for both bloggers and the AP.
For Bloggers
For bloggers, this development presents a serious disadvantage when it comes to content creation. Why? Well, when an article has quotes, it shows that some research has been done on the part of the author. And this is important because it helps establish credibility. Ultimately, readers are much more likely to trust the writer that quotes from a reputable source than from one that is creating content from the top of their head. This can even be the case with editorials, which may still use quotes to help discuss an author’s personal opinion on an issue.
There’s also another issue to consider when it comes to being limited with quotes… search engine optimization. Every time bloggers link to another website, their blog gets more exposure, since search engine bots like to see that a site has a lot of outbound links.
Of course, AP would say that people are still free to link to their articles… they just can’t quote them. Yet, without the quote, there’s not much incentive for the blogger to link there, period. The only exception would be if they’re willing to take the time to paraphrase the quotes. This would pretty much still offer them an SEO advantage, though the content would lose credibility.
Besides, depending on how strict the AP becomes, even paraphrasing may not be acceptable, since ideas can also be plagiarized. In fact, that’s the whole point of copyright infringement laws… to protect ideas and other intellectual property. If the AP determines theft has occurred even through paraphrasing, bloggers may face the same penalties as those who copied the quote directly.
So, what about just providing a link to the article with no quotes or references to a quote? Again, this would work for SEO, but for readers it would be incredibly boring. Bloggers would have to ensure that their own thoughts are entertaining or informative enough to keep visitors on their websites.
This is where the pro comes in. That’s right… it’s possible that the AP could trigger a renaissance of sorts in the blogging world. Why? It’s simple. If writers are limited in what they can quote, they will have to think a little harder about how they’re going to write their posts. In essence, they would become their own journalist, as they tried finding news that is fresh and original. Quotes would no longer be needed since their own offline research would be powerful enough to support the content.
But what about bloggers that feel the best solution is to simply quote another website? Wouldn’t that be an effective means of solving the problem? It depends. If the AP really starts taking bloggers to court, other organizations might follow suit… even if their threats are bluffs. Either way, it could get to the point that using free quotes from any website could become a thing of the past.
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