According to the New York Times, the Associated Press is once again rattling its saber over use of its content by Web sites. A similar soap opera played out last summer:

newspaper revenue tanks > AP shakes fist at pesky Interweb > bloggers get pissed > nothing happens

But read deeper into the Times piece and you'll see this latest flare up is different because the AP actually has a point: sites with SEO mojo that grab AP content and pass it off in their own wrappers do undermine the AP's core mission of providing fast, trustworthy information. The AP relies on reputation to justify its existence, so it wants credit where credit is due. I can't argue with that.

This reasonable complaint is, unfortunately, buried beneath the AP's history of misguided lawsuits, wacky licensing, and its penchant for tough-guy posturing. What the organization needs is an even-tempered communicator (the anti-Beale). Someone who can quell Internet angst by drawing a straight line between the AP's original content and the ever-expanding legion of aggregators, bloggers and Tweeters. The organization needs to note -- consistently and with great fervor -- that it's not hunting bloggers; that its beef isn't with excerpting; and that it encourages fair use of its content. Only then will the AP's real message get through.

Hand-Picked Related Links

• Some questions related to Google News and the Associated Press (Official Google Blog)
• AP launches campaign against Internet "misappropriation" (Ars Technica)
• Some Suggestions For The AP, Care Of The Music Industry (paidContent.org)
• Some Papers in Financial Trouble Are Leaving the A.P. to Cut Costs (New York Times)