Steve Boriss, Associate Director of the Center for the Application of Information Technology at Washington University in St. Louis, wonders why newspapers put up with the Associated Press:

[A]s of recently, the relationship between the AP and its members seems to make no sense, and the papers’ actions have switched from being selfish to seeming stupid, suicidal, or sadomasochistic.

Not only has the AP cannibalized the content of local papers for decades and sold it to others, he says, it is now using those funds (thousands each week for even small dailies) to expand staff and add bureaus, all of which hurts newspapers trying to compete in the New Media environment.

Bill Hawkins, my former executive editor at The Herald-Sun in Durham, understood the AP scam well. We were at a North Carolina Press Association AP luncheon some years back when the state AP bureau chief presented an editor with a “Best Member” award, which was earned by aggressively sending content to AP even before it had appeared in the paper.

Bill looked at me over his glasses and said, “If you ever win that award, I’ll fire you.”