Associated Press monitors CNN since dropping service

CNN Worldwide President Jim Walton told staff in June that the network was dropping its contract with the Associated Press and would provide its audience with content that is "distinctive, compelling and, I am proud to say, our own."

But the AP has been closely monitoring CNN's coverage and claims that the network routinely uses the wire service's reporting, according to internal memos obtained by The Upshot. CNN, the memo states, "continues to rely heavily, and apparently systematically, on AP breaking news, exclusive enterprise and in-depth reporting." (You can read the first AP memo here).

CNN, which had a relationship with the AP since the network's founding in 1980, is also now trying to sell its own service, CNN Wire. However, CNN isn't completely alone when it comes to news gathering: The network recently struck a deal with Reuters to supplement its coverage when needed. (Disclosure: Yahoo! News is an AP partner).

"We have not missed any major news story since discontinuing the use of the AP," said CNN spokesman Nigel Pritchard. "This has been a seamless transition for us. CNN is proud of the outstanding and original journalism of recent months, and continues to look to the future, not the past."

AP spokesman Paul Colford, while not commenting on the memos, summed up the news organization's problem with the network's coverage. "CNN continues to make extensive use of AP's original reporting, even though they no longer pay us for it," Colford said. "We are monitoring it very closely, and are considering our options."

AP and CNN executives first went back and forth just weeks after the partnership ended. In July, the Poynter Institute reported on a bit of sniping after the AP reported the news that New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner had died 15 minutes before CNN did. Pritchard said that CNN would likely not have gone ahead with the AP's report because it wasn't verified.

Last month, another former Yankee — pitcher Roger Clemens — played a role in the ongoing AP-CNN dispute. The AP memo claims that when CNN opts not to use the AP on breaking stories, the network is "often late with breaking news stories, forced to rely on press releases and secondary sources, behind and sometimes even incorrect on critical facts and updates."

"CNN's handling of Roger Clemens' not-guilty plea on charges of lying to Congress demonstrates again how ill-equipped the network is to handle breaking news across platforms," stated a second AP memo listing several examples. "More damning, it was breaking news that was anticipated." (You can read the second memo here).

The memo states that an AP NewsAlert on Clemens' plea moved across the wire at 2:04 p.m. on Aug. 30, with a bylined story sent across the wire by 2:16 p.m. CNN didn't report on Clemens' plea on air until 23 minutes after the AP's breaking-news alert.

AP also claims that, on other occasions, CNN catches "free rides on AP brand and marketing value" and uses the news service's content. The memo cites several examples, including an AP poll on Obama's handling of the economy, an AP report on an Iranian newspaper's attack on French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, and AP quotes obtained overseas from Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the organizer behind a proposed Islamic center in Lower Manhattan.

CNN could argue in response that AP has cited its news-making interviews on CNN shows like "Larry King Live" or "State of the Union."

It's safe to assume that the average news consumer isn't keeping track of when CNN cites AP and vice versa. But the dispute isn't just about journalist bragging rights: it's business. The memos show just how closely the AP keeps tabs on CNN, which notably started offering a less expensive, albeit less comprehensive, wire service in late 2008. The AP didn't waste time critiquing the potential competitor, with chief executive Tom Curley calling content from the service "abysmally written" just as the CNN wire was launching.

CNN doesn't bill CNN Wire as offering all the material to news organizations that the AP does, according to a July sales pitch included with the AP memos. But that pitch does mention AP a few times, noting for instance how CNN Wire could provide the stories a news organization would likely want at a lower cost than what the AP charges. "We have nothing against AP," the pitch reads. "Our Editorial board looked at where we are with the CNN Wire and decided we were ready to stand alone."

Pritchard, in response, said that "we have always been clear that the CNN wire is not replicating AP, and it is not being positioned as a direct competitor."

(Photo: AP/Ric Feld)